V. OSKANIAN: EUROPEAN NEIGHBORHOOD POLICY BRINGS ARMENIA BACK HOME

Pan Armenian News
26.09.2005 08:19

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian-Italian connections are based on rich
and ancient traditions, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
stated when receiving the Grosso d’Oro Veneziano award. “It was in
Italy in 1512, that Hakob Meghapart published the first book ever in
Armenian. The Urbatagirk (or Book of Days) was followed in 1513 with
the first published Armenian calendar.

The renowned Briton, Lord Byron, referred to the Venetian island of
San Lazaro as a fortress of Armenian independence, since the Armenian
monks of the Order of Mekhitar had found refuge there in the early
1700s. For the last three centuries, that haven has turned into a
scientific and cultural locus. Today, if you ask the Mekhitarist
fathers whether they are Venetian, they will say yes. If you ask
them whether they are Armenian, they will say yes. One can say that
they were pioneers in establishing a common European identity,
about which we speak proudly, yet with some apprehension. If it
used to be religion that bound Europe together a millennium ago, it
certainly isn’t any longer. Nor is it the economic advancement that
was specific to Europe two centuries ago. It isn’t ideology either,
which was both adhesive and encumbrance for decades in the last
century. Europe is more than its common history, more than geography,
more than a club for members. All those who’ve said Europe is an
idea are right. It is the idea of a Europe that is the common, if
unattainable ideal. Even those living outside this space have imagined
and desired a Europe which can be addressed collectively, a partner
which can be enlisted conveniently, a Europe to which they yearn to
belong. Armenia is Europe. This is a fact, it’s not a response to a
question. The collapse of the USSR brought us to a point of economic
and political crisis. I remember our discussions in Armenia, before
our entry into the Council of Europe. There were many questions about
the choice of path to take. Dante once said that the hottest places in
hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain
their neutrality. I’m happy to say I won’t be going there because I
was among the loudest advocates of the European path. The choice was
clear. Armenians believe in the values of the European enlightenment,
of European civilization. The moral, ethical and existential choices
that bring individuals and societies to select democracy over other
forms of government, rule of law over rule of man, human rights over
selective rights ­ those choices have been made. A people who have
lived under subjugation, have seen ethnic cleansing and genocide even
before the terms existed, have lived as a minority without rights,
now belong to a world where warring neighbors have found that they
can accept new borders based on realities on the ground and move
on. Europe’s nation-states have found that they can transcend borders,
without diminishing or ignoring cultural spaces, without expecting
historical identities to vanish. The European Neighborhood Policy
brings Armenia back home since Armenia’s foreign policy priority is
the gradual integration of Armenia into European institutions. The
double digit GDP growth, which Armenia achieved each of the last five
years, the successful admission into the WTO, the spirit of the free
enterprise, the changing political system and society are promising
signs that we are on the right track. However, it is too early to say
that the European standard is round the corner. It is not as close
yet as Europe itself, as Venice, as Verona, as the shared cultural
and religious values of the past and present.

To highlight and share those values, we will be launching a two-month
long Days of Italy in Armenia, beginning in early October. This project
has received the blessing and patronage of President Ciampi, President
Kocharian and Governor Galan. The centerpiece of these important events
will be an exhibition of the riches from the Isla Armena. In light of
all this, then, the Fondazione Masi has, in bestowing upon me this
award, put a great stamp of approval on Armenia, its foreign policy
directions, its European orientation, its future. I am privileged
to receive this prestigious award, il Grosso d’Oro Veneziano. This
is a special day for me. And this is, of course, a special place,
a special foundation and a special family with a glorious history of
650 years stretching all the way back to one of the greatest poets of
all times, Dante Alighieri. Dante’s descendants valued their heritage
and helped pass on his legacy. This legacy clearly manifests itself
in modern Italy and the Region of Veneto. Italy and Veneto also share
a legacy with Armenians. There is much symbolism in the fact that
Armenia’s coming back to Europe is being noted and celebrated here,
in Italy,” the Minister said.

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