Armenia Plans to Ban Turkish Imports

Armenian MP Mikael Melkumyan called for urgent efforts to ban Turkish imports.

Melkumyan, MP of Prosperous Armenia Party said that Armenia should take a serious decision because of regional conflict. He told it is possible to produce Turkish goods in Armenia and there is no need to import from Turkey,“It’s a matter of state and national interest. Armenia has for many years made imports worth US $250-300 million from Turkey, with its exports amounting to no more than $2 million. Why should we give our money to Turkish enterprises to raise their taxability and enable them to later produce weapons to be used against us,” Tert.am reports.

Previously Artsvik Minasyan, Minister of Economy of Armenia, said that government plans to ban Turkish imports on April 27. According to Tert.am, MP Melkumyan is totally supporting this plan, “At the current stage of military operations, we cannot be in a model of classical market economy. We must do everything possible to preserve our national and state interest, our national identity and honor.”

The website published an interview with Atom Margaryan from Yerevan State University, International Economic Relations department. He warns the authorities on the issue of banning Turkish imports, “The language of sanctions is ambiguous in general. That’s to say, if you enforce a measure against manufacturers in one country, that has a boomerang effect. So you have to be ready for counter-steps. Countries normally do not trade with each other when they are at war. We are not at war with Turkey at least, so sanctions of the kind are not probably to the point when they become a state policy – given especially that our borders with that country are close.”