Public Television, Armenia
Nov 24 2006
TURKEY’S EU BID TO IMPROVE TIES WITH NEIGHBOURS, ARMENIAN LEADER SAYS
IN CYPRUS
[Presenter] Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, who is in Cyprus on
the first ever state visit, has met his Cypriot counterpart Tasos
Papadhopoulos. The Kocharyan – Papadhopoulos talks were followed by a
meeting of the delegations of the two countries in an expanded
format. President Kocharyan also spoke about the Turkish-Cypriot
problem and confirmed Armenia’s position once more. The Armenian
president also touched on the Armenian-Turkish issue.
[Correspondent, on the telephone from Nicosia] The Armenian
president’s state visit to Cyprus is the first high-level contact
between Armenia and Cyprus. Armenia and Cyprus do not only share
historical ties but also ways of integration into Europe. Cyprus has
passed this way successfully and can assist Armenia with its own
experience. Robert Kocharyan and Tasos Papadhopoulos today announced
that they were ready to boost the Armenian-Cypriot relations not only
in the issue of integration into Europe but also in bilateral
relations.
The Armenian-Cypriot talks started with the presidents’ one-to-one
talks. Then, they were joined by the two countries’ delegations. The
delegations included officials from the spheres of tourism and
banking. These are the main trends of prospects for the development
of the Armenian-Cypriot relations.
[Tasos Papadhopoulos, in Greek with Armenian voice-over] We have
discussed with the Armenian president the development of the
Armenian-Cypriot relations in all spheres, bilateral as well as
international issues. I hope that the working groups will submit
specific programmes of cooperation in education, tourism, banking and
cultural spheres and will discuss them in 2007.
[Correspondent] The Armenian president expressed hope that Cyprus
would share with Armenia its experience on the integration into
Europe, which will be useful for the reforms in our country. Cyprus
can also help Armenia within the framework of the EU’s Neighbourhood
Policy. The Armenian and Cypriot governments signed an agreement on
cooperation in the fight against organized and other crimes.
Robert Kocharyan answered journalists’ question about Armenia’s
position in the Turkish-Cypriot issue.
[Robert Kocharyan] We have always backed the Cypriot side in the UN
and generally in all discussions and we would like the Cypriot issue
to be solved as you wish.
[Correspondent] Robert Kocharyan has invited Tasos Papadhopoulos to
Armenia in 2007.
Turkey must reconsider the Cyprus issue till December, after which
the EU will announce its attitude to Turkey’s membership. Asked about
this issue, Robert Kocharyan noted that Turkey’s proposals for the
settlement of the relations with its neighbours will have an impact
on the Armenian-Turkish relations as well.
Robert Kocharyan also answered a question about Armenia’s position on
Turkey’s EU membership as Turkey did not recognize the Armenia
genocide.
[Robert Kocharyan] We hope that this membership process, thanks to
the reforms [presumably in Turkey], will create such a situation that
the discussions on the Armenian genocide in Turkey will be open and
give an opportunity to the Turkish public to voice its opinion on
this issue. We know that this will be a difficult path but we hope
that the Turkish people will get this path themselves. We hope that
by recognizing the Armenian genocide, the international community and
various countries will help the Turkish people overcome this
difficult path.
Lilit Setrakyan, Arman Garibyan, "Aylur", Cyprus.