Armenia Violates Norms On Using Transit Rivers, Expert Says

(MENAFN- AzerNews) Rena Murshud read more

Russia and the United States seem to be competing with each other to mediate the solution to Baku-Yerevan relations, though there is no result yet. What is interesting is what kind of interests are behind the initiative of two opposing sides.

According to political analyst Ilgar Valizadeh, the USA, which has recently been active in both Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus, is somehow trying to push Russia out of the region. “Actually, with the initiative of the parties, we bring the Turkish agreement, the negotiations regarding the Zangazur Corridor to the table. This initiative and the process itself are beneficial to the parties to a certain extent. The fact that most of the negotiations take place with the participation of the United States means that it takes the initiatives. On the other hand Russia is active in order to maintain its influence in the South Caucasus. Because it is losing its influence in many directions and particularly in the region. Russia’s main desire is to open the Zangazur Corridor. This is an issue that is more beneficial to Russia than the United States and the West. By the way, the roads the commission related to its opening is carried out with the participation of Russia,” Valizade said.

The expert also spoke about Armenia’s position. He said that the USA and the EU show considerable interest in Azerbaijan due to its geostrategic position. Armenia is completely out of this issue.

“Azerbaijan is located in such a geographical position that its paths cross with Iran, Turkiye, and Central Asia. For this reason, America and the EU want to increase their influence in regional issues, provided they do not leave the region.

As for Armenia, its end is the policy of becoming a colony. The end of the countries that pursue such policies sooner or later becomes a colony of another country. Armenia, which has been under Russian colonial rule until now, is looking for a new patron because it cannot get what it wants from the official Kremlin. Whichever country carries out the policy desired by Armenians and fulfills their wishes, that country is considered the leading country. Armenian public figures and activists openly admit this desire.

In fact, this is dangerous. Because, this kind of situation of Armenia creates the ground for interference of foreign forces in regional politics. This is not a good situation not only against the background of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, but also for the entire region,” the expert emphasized.

In addition, Ilgar Valizade also touched on the recent visit of the EU mission group to inspect the metallurgical plant of Armenia, which is dangerous for ecology. He said that the West is biased in this matter.

“This is the traditional policy of the West. The West creates dirty enterprises in Africa and many countries in Asia. It wants to damage the environment by placing its enterprises in the countries that produce raw materials. Other countries suffer considerable damage from this, and to support this issue that is on the agenda of the UN make calls.

Currently, African and some Asian countries buy garbage from the West in exchange for money. Enterprises dealing with waste processing in their own countries are unable to deliver the volume of waste, so they transport their waste to other countries for money. This is a huge global problem. Armenia is an example of this.

By the way, the Okchuchay tragedy is experiencing the same situation. Even there were some institutions affiliating to Germany but never inside the country operating in several countries. All this is a manifestation of colonial policy.”

The political analyst added that Armenia is trying to realize the metallurgical plant, which it started to build illegally, only within the framework of interests.

“Currently, the Yeraskh metallurgical plant is being built without passing any environmental expertise. Armenia continues this work simply by agreeing with the interests of the West and expressing its personal wishes. The worst thing is that this plant is close to the Araz River, which is considered a transit.

I would like to note that the convention on the use of transit rivers was adopted in Helsinki, and currently this activity of Armenia is contrary to the norms of the use of transit rivers. Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan is a member of this convention. It is precisely because of such issues that Armenians refuse to do so,” Valizade said.

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Rena Murshud is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @r enatagiyeva