Achieve progress by combining interests: international media coverage of Armenian President’s Munich speech
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![Achieve progress by combining interests: international media coverage of Armenian President’s Munich speech](http://armenpress.am/resized/480/static/news/b/2018/02/923137.jpg)
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. The speech by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan at the Munich Security Conference and the main points highlighted by him are under the international media spotlight, reports Armenpress.
According to foreign media reports, Armenia is a successful example of uniting different integration processes and contributing to the cooperation between the West and Russia.
The German Deutsche Welle starts the article with the following note: Eastern Europe and Central Asia have been caught between western Europe and Russia since the Cold War ended. “The collapse of communism and the Soviet Union in the 1990s meant momentous change for eastern Europe and Central Asia. But countries in bothregions have since found themselves in a state oflimbo between Moscow and Brussels”, Deutsche Welle writes, stating that some panelists at the Munich Security Conference were relatively optimistic about both regions, not only for the countries caught in the middlebut also for Russia and the EU.
“Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said his country had learned that "geopolitical competition bears nothing good,"noting that only by "combining interests"with other countries could everyone ensureprogress.
The question, Sargsyan said, wasn't about being caught between two political forces. Instead, it was about finding areas where Armenia's interests overlapped with those of Russia and the EU:"Only through cooperation can we cope with the times”, Deutsche Welle quoted the President’s words.
The Russian TASS highlighted President Serzh Sargsyan’s words according to which the efforts of Russia, France and the US for peace and security in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement are a successful example of cooperation.
“The efforts aimed at settling the Nagorno Karabakh conflict can serve an example on how Russia, the EU and the US can positively combine their positions for the sake of international peace and security. Our desire is for such commonalities to be more frequently demonstrated”, TASS quoted the Armenian President’s speech.
TASS also touched upon Azerbaijan’s position on NK conflict which the Armenian President called as a “flagrant violation of the Helsinki spirit”. The news agency also touched upon President Serzh Sargsyan’s comment on the statement of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev who called “Yerevan as a historical Azerbaijani land”. “President Aliyev uttered territorial claims reaching as far as Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, calling it a historically Azerbaijani territory - nothing but delirium - which can have serious consequences if Europe turns a blind eye to it”, Serzh Sargsyan said.
The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in particular focused on the question of the secretary of the Azerbaijani embassy and the Armenian President’s concrete responses. The RFE/RL writes as the Azerbaijani embassy’s official packed both commentary and questions into his turn at the mic, the host of the panel -- Ian Bremmer, founder of the Eurasia Group political risk consultancy -- intervened in an effort to let President Sargsyan reply.
The Armenian President advised the Azerbaijani side to “give up on their unrealistic expectations” concerning the Nagorno Karabakh. “You want to live freely. I assure you, the people of Karabakh want to live freely, too. They want to live in their historical land”, the RFE/EL quoted the President’s words.
The news agency also states that President Serzh Sargsyan defended the NK people’s right to hold referendum in a civilized way, adding that no one can “break the will of the Armenian people”.