BRINGING TURKEY’S FOREIGN AND HOME POLICY IN CORRESPONDENCE WITH EUROPEAN STANDARDS IS COMPULSORY

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jun 19 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The delegation of
the Czech Republic Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations, Defence
and Security has arrived in Armenia on a working visit. On June 19,
the members of RA National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign
Relations met with the delegation.

As Noyan Tapan was informed from RA NA Public Relations Department,
Committee Chairman Armen Rustamian attached importance to cooperation
between the two countries’ parliaments emphasizing the necessity of
activization of bilateral contacts that can be efficient both in the
respect of exchange of experience and cooperation in spheres of policy,
economy, trade and culture.

Rostislav Slavotinek, Vice-Chairman of Czech Republic Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations, Defence and Security, also attached importance
to activization of political, interparliamentary and trade-economic
contacts, cooperation in the legal-contractual field. Committee member
Jaromir Stetina mentioned that two months ago a conference dedicated
to the Genocide of 1915 was organized at the Senate on his initaitive
and the initiative of the Armenian community of Czech Republic, as
well as under the patronage of former President of Czech Republic
Vatslav Havel. The deputy expressed the hope that the Czech Senate
will adopt a statement recognizing the Armenian Genocide in autumn.

In response to the question of the Czech party, whether there is
some improvement in the Nagorno Karabakh settlement lately and
whether the OSCE Minsk Group has exhausted itself and there is a
necessity of a new format, Armen Rustamian said that there is no
necessity of a new format as the Minsk Group has been engaged in the
settlement since 1992, deeply masters the issue and has submitted
three valuable proposals during the past eight years. And as for no
improvement in the negotiations process, according to A.Rustamian, in
difference to Armenia, Azerbaijan constantly declines the proposals
submitted to it and refuses to sign any document, which contradicts
its conception of problem settlement. In his opinion, the process of
conflicts settlement can be crowned with success only by development
of regional partnership, which is greatly hampered by Azerbaijan and
Turkey with the policy carried on by them, which draws dividing lines
in the region and delays the settlement of the problem.

In connection with EU-Turkey and Armenia-Turkey relations the
Chairman of RA NA Committee on Foreign Relations said that Armenia
has repeatedly announced about its readiness to establish relations
without any preconditions, in response to which the Turkish side
puts forward preconditions, they are put forward in the context of
Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, as well. As for Turkey’s membership
to EU, Armen Rustamian said that the European Union is not only
a geographical area, but first of all a system of values and for
becoming a EU member a country should adopt the European values in
this context attaching importance to the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide, because, while Turkey has not recognized the Genocide,
there is no guarantee that it will not recur again.

Agreeing to Armen Rustamian, the Czech party added that the
negotiations with Turkey on membership to EU will continue for
another 10-15 years and bringing Turkey’s foreign and home policy in
correspondence with the European standards is obligatory.