Expert criticizes rising sales of Azerbaijani gasoline in Armenia

Sales of gasoline imported from Azerbaijan are reportedly rising in Armenia, drawing sharp criticism from Iran specialist Vardan Voskanyan, who has described the trend as socially and morally troubling.

In a social media post on Friday, Voskanyan called the increasing availability and uptake of Azerbaijani fuel in Armenia “shameful”.

“This is especially troubling because drivers who use premium-grade gasoline are not members of socially vulnerable groups for whom a 90-dram price difference would be significant,” he wrote.

According to Voskanyan, the trend reflects a social and moral decline, which he characterized as a triumph of consumer convenience over national dignity and self-respect.

He further claimed that the situation amounted to “another bitter acknowledgment of the enemy’s success” in efforts to reduce Armenia, at best, to what he termed a “spineless ethnographic reservation”.