Kocharyan: In the process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations,  Armenia is negotiating not with Turkey, but with the  Azerbaijani-Turkish tandem

ArmInfo. On the issue of opening the border, Armenia should not act as a supplicant. Second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan stated on February 17 at a  press conference in Yerevan, speaking about the risks of normalizing  Armenian-Turkish relations,.

Recalling that he had never opposed the establishment of relations  with Turkey, Kocharyan recalled that this process should take place  naturally, through the exchange of notes, the establishment of  diplomatic relations, the opening of embassies. Discussions then  begin on how to overcome the existing problems between the two  countries. "What is happening now is incomprehensible to me. In fact,  the format that I see today is that we are negotiating not with  Turkey, but with the Turkey-Azerbaijan tandem, where the agenda is  formed by Baku, and it is voiced by Ankara. This is will not lead us  to anything good. This is not a good way to normalize relations,"  Kocharyan is convinced.

According to the second president, one needs to understand what  Armenia will get after the opening of the border, and the threats are  great. He stated that a number of industries and areas will suffer,  the Armenian market expects a certain shock for the next 3-5 years.  "Bulgaria has this experience. Serious problems are expected. But, I  have not heard a single assessment and calculation about the  consequences of opening the border, and how we will protect our  market. The ministry that should do it is not taken seriously, which  is jokingly called "Ministry of Hope". We are facing a serious  threat, but there is no assessment. It seems that these people hate  professionals. I thought about it, and my conclusion is that a good  specialist in Armenia today knows hisher own worth  and values  hisher own dignity. Therefore, they gather people who  do not have  their own opinion. And the problem lies in this," the politician  believes.

He recalled that during the last meeting there were talks about the  benefits of rail transport, but nothing was said about road  transport, while after that a "great idea" was voiced about the  transit potential of the Republic of Armenia. According to Kocharyan,  talk about the benefits that the opening of communications promises  us is absurd. In this vein, he recalled that there are 400 km from  Yerevan to the border of the Russian Federation.

"The structure of the Armenian economy and the economy in general in  the world is such that a significant part of the transportation is  carried out by trucks, but for Armenia the situation will not change,  since our main partner is the Russian Federation. Nothing will  change. It's going to get a lot worse if Iranian cargo transportation  will pass through Nakhichevan, then no one will send cargo through  Syunik. And the Syunik region will be in a bad situation. If we carry  out cargo transportation by the railway of Azerbaijan, the way will  double. This will further remove us from our sales markets in the  East - the Krasnodar Territory and Moscow. The path will be at least  800 km longer. These people don't look at maps? Or they also hate  maps as a professional tool," Kocharyan asked, adding that the use of  the railway requires additional efforts.

According to him, by opening the borders for Turkish goods, Armenia  will again be the losing side. "I am not saying that we should not  leave the borders closed, but we need a comprehensive program for the  next 3-5 years to protect our own market. There are such protection  tools as subsidies to our producers or customs barriers, there are  other ways of protection. But about this no one speaks and this is  not discussed," the second president of the Republic of Armenia  believes. According to him, everything needs to be considered as a  whole, and it is possible to involve good specialists who are in  Armenia and make appropriate calculations. "My request is not to  consider the country's intellectual abilities in the context of the  ruling force," Kocharyan noted.

Emphasizing once again that he had never opposed the normalization of  Armenian-Turkish relations, Kocharyan noted that during his tenure in  power it was easier for him to talk about opening the border with  Turkey, since then Armenia was the winning side in the war, the  security of Nagorno-Karabakh was ensured, and the initiator of the  closure of the border was Turkey, not Armenia.

At the same time, Kocharyan noted that he never talked about it, but  always took note that this closed border to some extent protected the  emerging Armenian market and even helped to achieve success in a  number of areas of production. "If they then announced that they were  opening the borders, we would have used certain tools to protect the  market. Then we dictated the agenda, and the leaders of Turkey or  Azerbaijan could not make claims against us and, unlike today, we  would not have to keep quiet for fear of losing a couple more  military posts," Kocharyan said. "Roughly speaking, they grabbed  Armenia by something, and they can tear it off. Roughly, but  honestly. This is the situation," he said.

On the issue of opening the border, as the second president noted,  Armenia should not act as a supplicant. " The opening of the borders  is natural , it is unnatural that Bayraktars attacked us a year ago,  that's, in fact, what is unnatural and I am sure that the drone  operators were Turks. We must remember this. And this factor needs to  be emphasized," Kocharyan said.

To clarify, if Russia is interested in a strong ally, then why today  it contributes to the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations and  the unblocking of communications, Kocharyan noted that he does not  believe that the deblockade will lead weakening of the Republic of  Armenia. "There are two tools in foreign policy: if you can't  interfere, then become a participant in the process, and this is  exactly the case.  Russia soberly assesses its limits, which were  revealed during the war. Russia has not yet made a final correction  of its position in the region," he said.

At the same time, Kocharyan believes that Turkey has been acting  quite independently in relations with the West in recent years.  According to him, from the moment when the Turks realized that they  would not become EU members, they abruptly changed their policy and  focused on strengthening the influence around them.

"Turkey and Russia have common interests in this issue. But, , Russia  and Turkey have been present for more than one century in the South  Caucasus region and remain rivals, but time will tell what  manifestation this rivalry will have in the future. But today they  manage to smooth out contradictions and form a certain model of  relations, even being rivals," Kocharyan summed up.