Armenian
News Network / Groong
Hello,
and welcome to the Armenian News Network, Groong,
Week in Review. This show was recorded on Sunday, January 30th, 2022. This
week’s major topics are:
● Game of Chicken over Ukraine
● Antalya Diplomatic Forum
● Army Day in Armenia
● Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
To talk about
these issues, we have with us:
Suren
Sargsyan, who is the founder and President at the
Armenian Center for American Studies, a research center based in Yerevan.
Over the course
of January, we’ve talked with experts on this podcast about the standoff over
Ukraine between the West and Russia. We don’t want to rehash through all the
back and forth in the politics of the affair, but basically Putin has demanded that the West should respect its security
needs, including its right to influence post-Soviet and Warsaw Pact states in a
manner to protect itself. Meanwhile the West, led by the US, has ramped up the
rhetoric about Russia’s imminent invasion of Ukraine, and threatened a “severe and coordinated” response to it.
Suren you have a
solid grasp of the West’s security doctrine. Can you summarize what each side
wants, their redlines, and how you see this Game of Chicken resolving itself?
In the context of
the Turkish-Armenian Normalization process, Turkey has invited Armenia to
attend a diplomatic forum it's holding in a
quote-unquote “beautiful Antalya resort on the coast of the Mediterranean”.
The media has
quoted various Turkish officials who have said that Armenia “may” be attending the diplomatic forum, and also
hinting that possibly prime minister Pashinyan himself, or maybe foreign
minister Mirzoyan, may lead the Armenian attendance. Meanwhile, Armenia’s MFA
won’t yet confirm whether a decision has been made to attend the forum or not.
Questions:
● What’s special about the forum in Antalya? In
what way is this forum important for Armenia?
● Notable Armenians have attended the forum in the
past, for example Prof. Jirayr Libaridian
is listed among the attendees of the 2021 Forum. Why is it important for Turkey for Official
Yerevan to attend this forum?
● Is there anything to gain by Armenia in
attending this?
● Why is the Armenian government being wishy-washy
about whether it’s going to attend or not? The general statements from Turkey
indicate that they’ve received a positive RSVP, but maybe Pashinyan’s
government does not want to strike the wrong chord by telling its public
something it might react negatively to?
The Armenian
National Army was established on January 28th 1992.
This year, two days ago, was the 30th anniversary of the event. To those heroes
listening who have served in the defense of the homeland, we express our debt
of gratitude for your contributions and congratulate you on your holiday.
Many experts
credit the speed at which Armenia was able to transform its various rag tag
paramilitary groups into a standing Armenia as the core reason for Armenia’s
victory in the first Artsakh war.
The holiday has
been celebrated every year since it was officially proclaimed as such, in 2001.
Unfortunately, this year many events involving high profile officials,
including Prime Minister Pashinyan, were canceled. The reason: COVID.
Did you attend
any commemorative events? What are your thoughts about the cancellation?
Ever since after
the war, Armenia’s leadership has been vocal about the necessity to reform
Armenia’s armed forces and to establish a “professional army”.
What does this mean, and is there evidence of steps in this direction?
Suren, you’ve been very vocal about the Armenian
foreign policy in general on social media, as well as in your analysis. So, we
wanted to ask: is Armenia’s foreign policy alive and actively pursuing our
national interests?
I’m always thinking: how come nobody follows through
on President Armen Sarkisian’s multiple trips to the Gulf countries like Saudi
Arabia, the UAE, and so on, and trying to build on his efforts to promote those
important relationships?
Is Armenia’s
Ministry of foreign affairs equipped to deal with the issues the country is
facing?
That
was our Week in Review show, and we hope it helped you catch up with
some of the issues in and around Armenia from this past week. As always, we
invite your feedback and your suggestions. You can find us on most social media
and podcast platforms, or our website Groong.org.
Thanks
to Laura Osborn for the music on our podcasts. Don’t forget to subscribe to our
channel on YouTube, Like
our pages and follow us on social media. On behalf of everyone in this episode,
we wish you a good week, thanks for listening and we’ll talk to you next week.
Suren Sargsyan,
Armenia, Foreign Policy, Azerbaijan, Nikol Pashinyan,
Antalya Diplomatic Forum, Turkey, Russia, Turkish Armenian Normalization,
Foreign Affairs, Armenian Foreign Ministry, NATO, Ukraine, George Bush, 41,
Georgia, South Caucasus,