Azerbaijan strengthens its borders with drones, Armenia with observers — Arthur Khachikian

January 18 2025, 10:30

Politics

Dr. Arthur Khachikian from Stanford University commented on the provisions of the charter on the Armenia-US strategic partnership in an interview with Alpha News. According to him, this document is presented as an agreement on strategic cooperation.

“This is the same agreement as the United States has with Afghanistan and Georgia. It did not help either the Afghans or the Georgians, where the Russian army almost reached Tiflis. Three European countries, Germany, France, and Great Britain, have signed the same agreement with Ukraine. Are there any official British, French, and German troops in Ukraine while the Russians are moving forward? No,” Khachikian said.

According to him, there is no specific mention of the need to strengthen borders in this charter.

“The document talks about some training programs. We are not against this; it is very good. It talks about economic support. It also talks about strengthening borders, but in what way and with what? Turkey and Azerbaijan are strengthening their borders with drones and armored vehicles. How will we strengthen them? By observers and phone calls? This needs to be clarified,” he told Alpha News.

Khachikian highlighted the point according to which Armenia will cooperate with the United States against ISIS.

“It is also noteworthy that the document says that we will cooperate against the Islamic State. This is being done after the United States and Europe brought one of the ISIS leaders to power in Syria. And now Armenia will cooperate against the Islamic State. The United States is helping the Islamic State in Syria. It’s very strange,” he said.

The political scientist also noted that there is no mention of a military alliance in the charter.

“Is there even a word about a military alliance, apart from these beautiful and not-so-important steps? No. For example, the United States has allied obligations to NATO countries. An attack on any country is considered an attack on the United States. The United States does not have an official agreement with Israel, but when Israel was attacked, within minutes all US forces were deployed to defend that country, even in the case of genocide. The United States does not tell us that we are allies; there is no talk of NATO, and there is no talk of any serious weapons,” Khachikian concluded.

On January 14, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed the Charter on Strategic Partnership between Armenia and the United States in Washington. Before signing the charter, Antony Blinken stated that their goal is to assert Armenia’s sovereignty over its own territory.