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Armenia is 'ghost' in region due to occupation of Karabakh

27 February 2018 18:06 (UTC+04:00)
Armenia is 'ghost' in region due to occupation of Karabakh

By Rashid Shirinov

Baseless territorial claims of Armenia to Azerbaijan and other neighboring states have long led the already poor South Caucasus country into an even worse situation.

In fact, one wrong step of the former Armenian authorities – the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory in the early 1990s – and consequently the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are the main factors that dealt the heaviest blow to the economic and social life of Armenia itself.

The occupation policy of Armenia made the country an outcast of the region, where various profitable projects are constantly implemented. Such projects as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline or the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway have passed Armenia by, being constructed through Georgia and not through the occupant country.

In his recent interview with Vestnik Kavkaza, Deputy Chairman of the Armenian National Congress political party Aram Manukyan agreed that today’s critical position of Armenia originates from the unresolved Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“In the overall picture of regional interstate economic ties, Armenia occupies almost the ‘zero’ place,” he said, pointing out that all regional and international transport, railway, oil and gas lines pass Armenia by.

“We seem to be absent in the region. De jure Armenia exists in the Caucasus, but it does not work in any of the projects passing through the Caucasus. We are at an impasse in the economic sense, and therefore no one invests money in Armenia,” the Armenian MP noted.

He mentioned that Armenia was receiving at least $3-4 billion of investment per year in the past, but last year there was only $120 million of investment in the country. The situation is complicated by corruption, and therefore no normal person will risk investing his money in Armenia.

“The end of the war is the only way of Armenia's development and integration. It is necessary to get out of the current deadlock in which we have been living for 24 years,” the Armenian MP said.

Unfortunately, the Armenian leadership has not yet realized the truth Manukyan speaks about. As long as the Azerbaijani lands remain under Armenian occupation, the aggressor country will have no progress in its economic position in the region. The only way out for Armenia is the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as soon as possible.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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