Wednesday, April 6 2022 21:44

ArmInfo.Armenia should join the NATO military alliance  to ensure security. A similar opinion is shared by 34.1% of respondents participating in the "Armenian society  at the crossroads. Foreign policy orientations, priorities and  perceptions" sociological survey. The survey was conducted by  specialists of the SOCIES Expert Center with the assistance of YSU  and financial support from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

The main purpose of the study is the foreign policy priorities of the  Armenian society after the "velvet revolution" and the 44-day  Karabakh war. In particular, the emphasis was placed on the public  perception of "friends" and "enemies", the public understanding of  "friendly" and "unfriendly" states and related undesirable political  trends on the development of Russian, European, American (Western)  trends in international relations.

At the same time, only 29.1% of respondents view the CSTO as a  "security umbrella", 26% do not consider any of these military  alliances (CSTO, NATO) as a guarantor of Armenia's security, and  10.7%, strangely, have no any idea about those alliances.

At the same time, the 46.1% of respondents consider Armenia's  membership in the European Union as the most promising, 28.7% of  respondents voted for being in the EAEU, 12.5% ??do not support any  economic union, and 12.6% do not know anything about these unions.

However, from an economic point of view, respondents believe that  cooperation with the Russian Federation (52%) will have the most  positive impact on Armenia, followed by the EU (49%), followed by the  USA (41%), China (38%), Iran (24%), India (16%) and to a very small  extent Georgia (9.5%) and Turkey (3%).

In the context of security cooperation, the majority of respondents  preferred partnership with Russia (53.5%), followed by the EU (34%),  USA (31%), China (11%), Iran (10%), India (4%) , Georgia (2.5%),  Turkey (1.5%).  However, in terms of education, the Armenian public  prefers to link the future with the EU (56%), slightly less with the  US (37%), followed by Russia (29%) and China (15%), and to a very  small extent India and Iran.  

In the issue of ensuring human rights, the EU also accounts for the  lion's share (52%), 35% consider cooperation with the United States  effective, 26% with the Russian Federation, 8% with China, 4% with  India, 3.5% with Iran, Georgia -2, 5%, Turkey - 0.1%.  In terms of  improving the quality of life, Armenian citizens consider cooperation  with the EU more promising (51%), a slightly less - the United States  (over 39%), followed by the Russian Federation (39%), then China  (20%), Iran (10% ), India (8%), Georgia (over 4%), Turkey (over 1%)  According to the results of the survey, 69.7% of respondents are of  the opinion that Armenia needs to limit relations with the Russian  Federation and expand with the EU and the US. 

At the same time, 26.4% of respondents consider the only option for  Armenia to be strategic cooperation with the Russian Federation, and  3.9% are in favor of ending cooperation with the Russian Federation  altogether. Respondents consider Armenia's close ties with the  Russian Federation to be the main reason hindering the development of  relations with the West.  

It should be noted that 1530 people took part in the survey, of which  570 are residents of Yerevan, 430 are residents of regional cities,  530-villages. The age category of respondents is as follows: from 18  to 34 years old - 531 people, from 35 to 49 years old - 387 people,  from 50 to 64 years old - 374 people, and over 65 years old - 238  people. Sampling error +/-3.3%, probability 0.99%.