Journal of Turkish Weekly
Jan 4 2005

Armenian Weekly: Armenian People Support Turkey’s EU Bid

Agos, Armenian weekly newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey,
reported that Armenian public strongly supports Turkey’s EU
membership.

Agos reported in its latest issue that Armenian people in Armenia
welcomed Turkey’s success in the December 17 Brussels Summit.

However, the paper stressed, it is observed that Armenians living in
France in Diaspora conducted campaigns against Turkey in this
process:

`While the summit goes on, an Armenian group of approximately 2300
people have made a demonstration near the EU Council Building in
Brussels. The group, asked the so- called Armenian Genocide to be
recognized by Turkey before full membership talks, and asked EU not
to accept the Turkish membership because Turkey has not shared the
ideal of Europe.’

`Foreign Affairs Ministry of Armenia said `If Turkey meets all EU
demands; the full membership of Turkey may also be beneficial for
Armenia and may influence the region positively.’ The government of
Armenia argued that Turkey’s Armenian border is still closed
unilaterally, and Turkey has placed punishment to the use of the term
`genocide’. Armenian government added that Turkey asserted
unacceptable pre-conditions to normalize the relations with his own
country. Besides, Armenia said `if Turkey listens to the society of
Europe, this will enable to overcome the obstacles and guarantee a
durable stability and development.’

In a survey conducted by Armenian Strategic and National Research
Center presided by Former Armenian Foreign Affairs Minister, Raffi
Hovhannesyan, % 64 of 2000 Armenians from many different segments of
the society were in favor of Turkey’s accession.

Besides, in the frame of this survey, 92 out of 100 experts supported
the accession of Turkey to the EU.’

Turkey has two pre-conditions to normalize its relations with
Armenia:

1) End Armenian occupation in Azerbaijani territories and do not
attempt to change borders by force,
2) Recognize Turkey’s unity and national borders. Do all amendments
that do not recognize Turkey’s national borders,

Armenian `genocide’ allegations are not a pre-condition for Turkey.
However Turkey says a historical and intellectual matter should not
be abused to prevent Turkish-Armenian relations. A Turkish official
said `An EU member Turkey could be a great opportunity for Armenian
Republic’.

Armenian forces still occupies about 20 per cent of Azerbaijani
territories and 1 million Azerbaijanis became refugees after the
occupation.