\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
By Emil Danielyan<\/span><\/p>\n Former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian signaled his disapproval of Armenia\u2019s low-key stance in the Russian-Georgian conflict on Wednesday, saying that Yerevan should have been more vocal in articulating its neutrality.<\/p>\n In an interview with RFE\/RL, Oskanian also said rising tensions between Russia and the West will make it harder for Armenia to carry on with its long-standing \u201ccomplementary\u201d foreign policy.<\/p>\n \u201cArmenia certainly can not choose [between the two warring sides,]\u201d he said. \u201cNor can it be indifferent. We should be able to find the right balance and I think that can be achieved through an upgraded complementarity.\u201d \u201cThat means our foreign policy should be much more public,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The Armenian government barely reacted to the August 8 outbreak of fighting in South Ossetia that developed into a full-scale Russian-Georgian war, with President Serzh Sarkisian refusing to cut short his vacation in China despite strong criticism from his political opponents. Sarkisian held a meeting of Armenia\u2019s National Security Council only on his return to Yerevan on August 14. He also discussed the festering crisis in separate phone conversations with the presidents of Russia and Georgia.<\/p>\n \u201cSaying nothing when the situation is difficult might be a solution,\u201d said Oskanian. \u201cWhat the authorities have done in connection with the latest developments is understandable. I don\u2019t want to voice any criticism.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut my preference would have been somewhat different,\u201d he said, adding that Yerevan should have displayed a \u201cmore public neutrality.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think that as soon as this problem arose we could have \u2026 publicly told Russia and the U.S. that what is happening does not stem from anybody\u2019s interests, is bad for the region and in the global political sense,\u201d continued Oskanian. \u201cArmenia would have had a clearer stance by telling everyone that Armenia is not going to choose between its two allies. Indeed, if Russia is our strategic ally, Georgia is our natural ally.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Oskanian, the Sarkisian administration\u2019s \u201csilence\u201d could also reflect negatively on Armenia\u2019s negotiating position in the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He said Russia\u2019s decision to unilaterally recognize Abkhazia\u2019s and South Ossetia\u2019s de facto independence from Georgia will erode Western support for the principle of peoples\u2019 self-determination championed by the Armenian side.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I said, our silence or low-key stance on the other issue is understandable. But I think that we could lag behind on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue,\u201d warned the man who served as Armenia\u2019s foreign minister and chief Karabakh negotiator from 1998-2008.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we fail to enter these processes and clearly express our position on Karabakh\u2019s self-determination, I\u2019m afraid we will find it harder to achieve results desirable to us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Oskanian went to on to imply that Armenia should draw parallels between the conflicts over Karabakh and Kosovo and exploit Georgia\u2019s botched attempt to win back South Ossetia for stressing the importance of non-use of force in the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani disputed. He said Yerevan should also go as far as to threaten to formally recognize Karabakh as an independent state if Baku rejects international mediators\u2019 existing peace plan.<\/p>\n The plan calls for a gradual settlement of the conflict that would enable Karabakh\u2019s predominantly Armenian population to determine the disputed territory\u2019s status in a referendum. It was drawn up by U.S., Russian and French diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group. The crisis in Georgia and its geopolitical implications have left observers wondering whether Russia and Western powers will continue to work together in trying to have the conflicting parties accept the framework peace deal.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is also a problem,\u201d admitted Oskanian. \u201cThose countries have frequently said that the Karabakh issue unites them and that they have no differences on that issue. I am really concerned that those disagreements [on Georgia] could also manifest themselves in their positions on the Karabakh conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n Oskanian reiterated in that regard his calls for Russia, the U.S. and the European Union to help create a \u201cregional security pact\u201d comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. In an article published by \u201cThe International Herald Tribune\u201d on Monday, he made a case for a \u201cnonaligned Caucasus, free of security memberships and adversarial alliances.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked by RFE\/RL whether that means Armenia should be ready to end its military alliance with Russia, Oskanian said, \u201cThat should be discussed by those six players, in the 3 plus 3 format. Other neighbors — and Turkey in particular — should also be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 By Emil Danielyan Former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian signaled his disapproval of Armenia\u2019s low-key stance in the Russian-Georgian conflict on Wednesday, saying that Yerevan should have been more vocal in articulating its neutrality. In an interview with RFE\/RL, Oskanian also said rising tensions between Russia and the West will make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":783838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,41,209,89],"tags":[204],"class_list":["post-3121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armenia","category-azerbaijan","category-georgia-caucasus","category-turkey","tag-nagorno-karabakh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}