We Armenians love Europe a lot. We like to consider our culture part of European culture. We like to dress and live the European lifestyle. I don’t know if any others besides Armenians call their newly remodeled houses “Euro remodeled” or not, but we also tend to call “landscapes” European. We also like European cars. In fact, Soviet “Jiguli” and “Volga” brand name cars are making way for the “Mercedes”, “BMW”, “Opel”, “Reno”, “Peugeot” and other European brand name cars. Armenians also like to take part in European social events, become members of different European organizations and associations. We feel that Europe needs us.
Despite that, we are still taking precautions before joining the EU because our centuries-old partner Russia is not too pleased with that union. Perhaps we are also afraid of joining the union because our centuries-old enemy Turkey is also doing everything it can to be admitted. It’s quite possible. It’s also possible that we are going along with the “look don’t touch” principle because based on our lifestyles, something bad always happens when we stick our noses into other people’s business. But when you just look from behind and don’t do anything, even a non-significant offensive word may just pass.
For example, since we still aren’t part of the European Union (in other words, we haven’t stuck our noses into their business), we don’t pay much attention to the negative evaluations about the referendums or elections. Armenian authorities tend to look at those negative evaluations as normal when making their speeches. What they mean is the following: what’s wrong? It’s our job to violate and their job to observe. But if we go deeper, we really can’t be that irresponsible and that is probably one of the reasons why we are taking precautions.
We never think that one day Armenia will be a part of Europe whenever we set out a project plan. We are not combining efforts to establish good ties with Turkey, which is doing all it can to integrate into Europe. Georgian-Armenian ties are still intimate, but we aren’t doing anything to improve them. For us, Europe is simply something which we can take without paying any money for it.
Once, one of my friends, who is an educated professor and an expert in regional issues, said that Turkey’s EU integration would greatly affect Armenia even if Turkey goes ahead and recognizes the Armenian Genocide. He told me that shortly after, the three Southern Caucasus countries will be admitted and Turkey will become the leader of the three.
I have no doubt that my friend is saying all that taking into consideration economic/political factors and is applying his knowledge to give out correct information. But to tell you the truth, I am not as worried about Turkey’s future dominance as I am about the present situation of the region, which is not very promising.
To make a long story short, I will move on to my opinions, which although may seem non-professional, but at the same time may cause the reader to think it over.
In order to have a strong government, you must be able to go along with the instilled customs of sovereignty. Even my friend agreed with me when I said that Armenia differs from Turkey with those customs. You need a lot of time and effort to stabilize the country, but effort and time are relative because during the time it takes us to get stronger, Turkey is going to get ahead of us.
Instead of the outlook for having a stronger state in the future, we have the skills, which have helped us develop our economy and become part of corporative organizations. About a year and a half ago, when there was peace in the Southern Caucasus and Turkey, Armenia had a high reputation in economy and culture, but of course, we forgot about the current status of Armenia.
The same thing happened back in the Soviet era. Back then, we focused on strengthening Armenia whether we liked it or not and we played a large role in economy, in the army, as well as the scientific and cultural fields.
This is something that we have to pay attention to when we think about a prosperous Armenia, especially since Armenia has more or less stabilized as a state. I’m not talking about the “Russia-Belarus-Armenia” phony outlooks, but rather integration (regional and European), which will be weighed out and will give Armenia the opportunity to show our skills and have a great impact if not in Europe, then in the Southern Caucasus region.
The foreign powers interested in the peaceful Karabagh conflict resolution are rushing to give quick solutions for Azerbaijan and Armenia and are making the conflict more complicated. They don’t realize that they have to focus on the region as a whole and not only Armenia and Azerbaijan. It’s no surprise that the adviser to the U.S. State Secretary on European and Eurasian issues Daniel Frid left Armenia for Turkey and the neighboring countries and made the following statement:
“The Armenian Genocide of 1915 in Ottoman Turkey enfolds a variety of issues and both countries must come together to discuss them.”
After his meeting at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Frid said that it’s important to give a correct evaluation about the tragic events of the past since people must first of all think about the future. Frid also said that he has also discussed Washington’s demand to open the Armenian-Turkish border.
It is worth mentioning that while all this is going on, Armenian Public Television is showing the song called “Without your love” by Armenian singer Andre (originally from Karabagh), which includes melodies from countries within the region.