Below is an interview of Panorama.am with political analyst Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan, head of the Voskanapat analytical center.
Question: Armenia and Turkey are launching a dialogue aimed at normalizing relations. The sides have appointed special envoys to that end. What do you think Ankara and Yerevan will achieve as a result of this process?
Answer: I would say that the Armenian and Turkish authorities have already made significant progress in establishing relations between the two countries. In any case, it is clear that the process is not actually unfolding the way the public imagines it. Otherwise, how should we interpret the fact that the Armenian authorities, who refute regularly reported contacts with Turkish officials, are suddenly so enthusiastic about Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s statement on normalizing relations with Armenia and appointing a special representative to that end, and within days they appoint Ruben Rubinyan as Yerevan's special envoy for the Armenia-Turkey dialogue?
Obviously, this is not a new process and, by and large, everything was decided here long ago; Armenia and Turkey will soon announce the establishment of diplomatic relations and the opening of borders. In all likelihood there will be no preconditions. The reason is simple: the preconditions put forward earlier by Turkey are in fact no longer relevant, the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem won the 44-day war, the Armenian-held territories of Artsakh no longer pose a great threat to the enemy, and Ankara and Baku are now solving quite different problems.
Question: The Armenian Foreign Ministry has announced that Deputy National Assembly Speaker Ruben Rubinyan will be Armenia's special envoy in the dialogue with Turkey. Do you think he is a good fit for the job?
Answer: In my opinion he was the only candidate, or one of the few candidates. You see, Pashinyan's government has no choice. After all, it is not easy to act against the state and the people. Thank God there are not many such figures in Armenia. This is the reason why Pashinyan appoints not specialists to different posts, but those who agree to take the position.
Suffice it to recall that for months after the end of the war the head of the Armenian government failed to find a single candidate for the post of foreign minister. Thus, he tried to appoint Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan to that position, but it did...
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