Xenophon Paper 2 pdf - ICBSS

ARMENIA IN THE BLACK SEA REGION:
16 YEAR-OLD VARIABLE GEOMETRY WITH
REMAINING LOCAL CONSTANTS 1
Styopa Safaryan
“At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Armenia has
demonstrated, throughout the passing centuries and
at the price of collective sacrifice, its devotion toward
its European heritage. With its newly gained
independence and after being distanced from it for
such a long time, Armenia yet again receives the
opportunity to return home, to the European home.
Truly, one of the first steps of our newly independent
country has been its membership application, dated
October 9, 1991, to the Council of Europe.”
Excerpt from a speech by Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Raffi K. Hovannisian, during a meeting of the
Council of Europe on 10 September 1992 in Istanbul.
Longing for Armenia’s homecoming to Europe: The Black Sea region as a window
of rapprochement
Armenia’s de jure emancipation from the chains of the Soviet Empire through the 21 st
September 1991 referendum on independence, signified a re-emerged statehood that
had been lost and re-conquered in the aftermath of the empires’ colonial policies
throughout its history. Inspired by this regained sovereignty and the window of opportunity
to implement policies befitting a newly independent country, paralleled with accession
to various international organisations – the United Nations, the Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Council of Europe – Armenia declared the
adoption of the European model of democracy and the return to the European family
as its twin strategic goals. Such an objective implied setting Armenia’s continual
Europeanisation and democratisation as a foundation for building firm statehood,
developing a free market economy, and pursuing its sovereign goals. The objective
1 The views expressed herein are personal and they do not necessarily reflect the opinion of any institution.
X E N O P H O N P A P E R no 2 11