Armenia left overboard EEU

By AzerNews

Armenia's signing of an agreement to join the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) which was expected to take place by June 15 has been postponed again.

"The signing ceremony is likely to take place in Minsk this October during a regular meeting of the union member states," Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrisov said during a Twitter conference on July 2.

The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed a treaty on the establishment of the EEU in Astana on May 29 without Armenia. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan remained an observer of the signing ceremony, as its country had not completed all procedures to join the union.

At Astana Summit, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev asked Sargsyan to stick to the UN principles concerning the officially fixed boundaries while joining the Customs Union (CU).

He said the presidents of the three countries received an appeal from the Azerbaijani side urging Armenia to accept a stipulation that the provisions of the WTO and Customs Union must be used within its borders recognized by the international law.

Sargsyan in turn offered to sign a treaty on Armenia's joining to the EEU by June 15, 2014.

The opposition parties believe that Sargsyan is planning to join the EEU to retain his power.

"Armenia's accession to the union has no benefit for Yerevan, as this organization does not consider Armenia's economic and strategic interest," Deputy Chairman of the Heritage Party Armen Martirosyan said.

He said that none of the EEU member states was interested in Armenia's joining the union.

Local experts doubt that October 2014 will be the deadline for Armenia's entrance to the EEU.

"Deadlines have already been postponed several times, and it is possible that the same will happen again in October," they said.

Azerbaijani and foreign political analysts believe that Armenia's occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territories and its non-constructive position on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict block the country's admission to the EEU.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's lands, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group -Russia, France, and the US- are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the withdrawal of its forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and its surrounding regions.

As long as Yerevan's continues its non-constructive position over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict it will remain far from the EEU, where the country sees its economic survival.