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Joining the Customs Union is a challenge, an anti-constitutional move and uncertainty for Armenian citizens, thinks Chairman of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor Artur Sakunts.

“What does a Customs Union in an area without any possibility of common communication mean? A thread running from Armenia to Georgia and towards the so-called Customs union,” he told in a talk with Tert.am and added that President Serzh Sargsyan has no right to speak on behalf of Armenia and, particularly, on behalf of Artur Sakunts.

Artur Sakunts is more concerned over Armenia sharing common values with Russia. “I am much more concerned over the joint statement on the values. We cannot have common values with Putin-led Russia, where people are robbed of their property in broad daylight and imprisoned on trumped up charges, where civil society is under pressure. That is, this is an authoritarian regime, and what common values can I have with it?”

Chairman of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor has no doubts that Russian President Vladimir Putin exerted pressure. However, it is Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan who made a unilateral decision, without considering his team’s opinion.

“I expect everything from Putin. He is incapable of using civilized language given his numerous statements on various topics. I think the problem here is in Serzh Sargsyan. At his meetings with high-ranking officials of the European Union (EU) in Brussels he states one thing, but at his meetings in Russia he states different things, for people not to find themselves in an awkward situation,” Sakunts said.

He is sure that the pressures exerted on Armenia have to do with the tragic events in Yerevan on March 1, 2008. “The March 1 crime was a state crime. Its remaining unsolved means permanent vulnerability for Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan, as well as the people immediately responsible for that crime. And Russia will always make use of this factor to exert pressure at private meetings.”

As to Russian pressure on Armenia’s leaders in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Sakunts notes that any attempt to justify Armenia’s joining the Customs Union by ‘Nagorno-Karabakh’s salvation’ is at least unreasonable.

“If we do not term it as populist, since Russian can never serve as a safeguard for Karabakh’s security. We   were convinced in it, in case of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, when Russia not only failed to serve a safeguard to resolve the issue through peace, but also expropriated some areas though his methods. Russia is a county of war-conduct. So, I do not think Serzh Sargsyan gave in due to this threat”, he said.

However, he believes that through accession to the Customs Union Armenia will not completely wash relations with the EU.

“Of course, continuing such partnership will give rise concerns of the EU, but I do not think the situation is left with no way out, since Serzh Sargsyan cannot make such unilateral decisions, I believe the EU representatives also comprehend the situation of Armenia and instead of exerting pressure on our side, their continue their tolerant cooperation as before”, he noted.

At the end Artur Sakunts warned civil society’s imminent response. “You should expect a rather serious reaction, various actions will be initiated”, he concluded.

Source: http://www.tert.am/am/news/2013/09/04/arthur-sakunc