HOSPITALITY WITH CAUTION?: MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD TO VISIT YEREVAN
- Controversial Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is set to visit Armenia by end of this month according to sources at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and in the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It will be Ahmadinejad’s first visit to Yerevan (he was in southern Armenia to mark the opening of a gas pipeline last spring).
The visit to Armenia, believed to be set for October 22, follows Ahmadinejad’s recent provocative visit to New York during which he inflamed passions with reaffirmation of both his country's commitment to pursuing a nuclear program as well as his challenge to the historical veracity of the Holocaust. He was also roundly jeered and lampooned for his claim that there are no homosexuals in Iran (Iran has a law forbidding them).
The visit may be seen as indication of Iran's need to break out of its relative isolation and is tied to the need to secure closer relations with its neighbors. The president's visit also follows last October's dispatch of an official Armenian delegation to Iran. That visit, which included a meeting between Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian and Ahmadinejad in Tehran, resulted in a pledge by the Iranian side to further deepen its historically-friendly ties with Armenia and a promise of Iranian support for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
The Iranian president was first in Armenia last March, participating in a ceremony with Armenian President Robert Kocharian marking the finishing of construction of the first-ever pipeline between the two countries. The pipeline will provide Armenia with an important new source of energy, as Iran plans to ship large amounts of natural gas into Armenia.
For Armenia, its southern neighbor is an important partner. With a strategic significance enhanced by the dual, East-West blockade of landlocked Armenia by neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan, Iran offers a much-needed southern alternative to the country's traditional reliance on Georgia as its sole export route. From this perspective, Armenia's developing relations with Iran, especially in the terms of energy cooperation, will likely be a priority of the visit.
Ties between the countries were strengthened with the opening of the gas pipeline (later bought by the Russians). The neighboring countries also have plans to build a hydroelectric power plant on the Arax River, at the Armenia-Iran border.
In a broader sense, Armenia's move closer to Iran is not without risk.
Politically, Ahmadinejad is at extreme odds with the United States, over a number of issues, not least of which is the American accusation that Iran is supplying weapons and training to insurgents in Iraq, resulting in the deaths of U.S. military personnel.
And even on a smaller, regional scale, there are additional limitations on how far and how deep Armenian-Iranian relations can be allowed to develop.
This limitation comes from Russia, which is driven by a need to maintain Armenia's structural dependence. It was, after all, the Russians who had the last word on the construction of the new gas pipeline connecting Armenia and Iran and, again, it is Armenia's strategic ally Russia that is now moving to make sure that it can hold the upper hand over plans to both expand hydroelectricity and explore a possible oil refinery.
For many reasons, the visit of the Iranian president will be of obvious importance to Armenia, as, under the watchful eye of friendly superpowers, it hosts a world-figure who has become as much provocateur as statesman.
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- 1813 The Russian-Persian Treaty is signed at Fort Gyulistan (Artsakh). It ended the war that had started in 1804. According to the agreement, Persia recognizes the provinces of Artsakh, Gyandja, Shaki, Shoragual, Talish, Derbent, Ghoobay, Pambak, Zangezoor, Shirvan, Baku, Loree and Shamshadin as belonging to the Russian Empire.
- 1882 Birth of literary critic Hovhanness Avagyan. He died in 1959.
- 1895 Rebellion breaks out at Zeitoon against Turkish administrative malpractices.
- 1961 The Armenian SSR decides to rename the Kotayk, Abovian and Adini regions to Ani region.
- 1962 Diasporan Armenians begin a new repatriation program to Armenia.
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