Rustamyan: No authorities will agree to join EaEU without Karabakh

No authorities in Armenia will agree to join the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) without Karabakh, the head of ARF-Dashnaktsutyun parliamentary faction Armen Rustamyan said during a briefing today when commenting on Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s statement at the May 29 meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Astana.

At the May 29 meeting of the Council in Astana, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev quoted the letter of Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and then said, addressing Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan: “So as not to excite our friend in Azerbaijan, you joined the WTO in this way, you should also join the Eurasian Union within the borders fixed in the UN”.

In the words of Rustamyan, Nazarbayen spoke mediately and did not present his own opinion. “When the membership issue is solved, there will be an occasion to answer Nazarbayev’s question without avoiding and ignoring it. It will be an occasion for us to defend our interests,” he said.

The ARFD deputy noted that Nazarbayev’s statement did not come as a surprise as he always defended Turkey and Azerbaijan. “It was clear from the very beginning that Kazakhstan is lobbying for them, and the more the matter concerns Armenia’s full membership in that structure, the sharper the questions become because Azerbaijan is out of these processes and will try its best so that Armenia will not join EaEU and strengthen its positions,” Rustamyan noted.

When asked whether Armenia may drop the idea of joining the EaEU, Rustamyan replied that Karabakh should be recognized, regardless of any union – be it the EU or the EaEU.