TURKEY’S ACCESSION TO EU WILL NOT BE CONDITIONED BY ADMITTING
ARMENIANS’ GENOCIDE, THOUGH IT MUST ADMIT

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25. ARMINFO. Turkey’s accession to the European
Union will hardly be conditioned by official Ankara’s admitting the
Genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey at the beginning of 20th
century. Deputy Chairman of the Assembly of the West-European Union
Marco Zacchera stated during the press conference in Yerevan. At the
same time he mentioned that Turkey must admit the Genocide of Armenia,
and he reminded that in due time the parliament of Italy had passed a
resolution where masacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey is mentioned
as a genocide. “But we must look ahead, as looking back we can knock
our hears against the wall”, Zacchera said.

According to Zacchera, he is personally for Turkey’s admission to the
EU is it meets certain requirements. “I am pleased that here, in
Armenia, both government representatives and the opposition pronounced
for Turkey’s admission to the EU, but the matter is that it must abide
by and respect Europrean standards,” he said. According to him, it
concerns not only the human rights sphere, but also the necessity of
harmonizing Turkey’s legislation with European standards. “We must
admit that Turkey has made some progress in this matter, but it msut
also meet European standards in implementing its economic policy and
balance the rights and powers of the civilian and military
authorities,” he said. Zacchera expressed the opinion that Turkey’s
admission to the EU will be of benefit both to Europe and to Armenia,
as it will allow the EU to expand to the Black Sea. According to him,
Turkey’s admission to the EU will be of benefit to Armenia in that the
borders of European countries cannot be closed,m and Turkey will be
closer to the South Caucasus. -ST-

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress