US Trying to Convince Armenia to Recognize Kosovo’s Independence: Haykakan Zhamanak

An unexpected issue has come about on the agenda of USA-Armenia relations; the US is trying to convince Armenia to recognize Kosovo’s independence – reports local daily Haykakan Zhamanak citing their own sources.

If Armenia does recognize Kosovo’s independence, they will be the first non-Baltic post-Soviet state to do so, writes Haykakan Zhamanak. According to information gathered by the daily, Armenia is interested in the topic; Armenian diplomats told their American colleagues that if Kosovo recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh, then Armenia will recognize Kosovo.

The daily writes, “From Kosovo’s perspective, recognizing Karabakh’s independence seems highly unlikely, because Kosovo is a Muslim country. Nonetheless, observers notice that the US is very influential in Kosovo, and can even be considered their de-facto godfather of independence.”

“This issue is sensitive, also from the perspective of Armenian-Russian relations. Russia has not recognized Kosovo’s independence, but has tried to convince Armenia to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s independence. Armenia, however, had a good argument in refusing, because it would ruin relations with Georgia, which, in essence, is a lifeline for Armenia,” writes the paper.