FAIR SOLUTION SHOULD REFLECT THE PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION

Yerkir.am
February 09, 2007

"Armenia has raised its relations with the European Union to a
qualitatively new level. The partnership and cooperation agreement
is in place and the recently signed Action Plan will provide a new
impetus for Armenia’s cooperation with the EU.

The Action Plan clearly states all measures and programs that should
be implemented sphere by sphere," the representative of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation’s Supreme Body of Armenia and chairman of
the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Armen
Rustamian stated at a press conference this week.

At the IX session of the Armenia-EU Parliamentary Summit on January
29-30 in Brussels a number of serious provisions were included in
the adopted joint statement.

Before commenting on the statement, let us first of all note that
upon the Armenian delegation’s proposal the session started with one
minute of silence commemorating Hrant Dink, the Armenian journalist
murdered in Turkey.

"Of course we explained the necessity for commemoration telling what
activities Dink was engaged in that dealt directly with Turkey’s
membership in the EU. The adopted joint statement strictly condemned
the murder of the ethnic Armenian journalist, public leader Hrant Dink
who was a leading activist in defending freedom of speech and always
supported Turkey’s democratization through the process of accession
to the European Union," Rustamian said.

Armenia’s inclusion in the European Neighborhood Policy is a serious
accomplishment. Proper implementation of the European Neighborhood
Policy’s Action Plan will strengthen the continuous political dialog
between the EU and Armenia, Rustamian believes.

Even though the OSCE Minsk Group is dealing with the settlement of
the Nagorno Karabagh conflict Rustamian believes the position taken
by the EU on this issue is very important: the European Commission
supports the OSCE Minsk Group ‘s efforts aimed at finding a settlement
mutually acceptable for the parties involved in the conflict. According
to Rustamian, the EU believes that a fair solution to the conflict
should reflect the people’s right to self-determination and the rights
of national minorities.

"The people of Nagorno Karabagh must be directly involved in the
settlement negotiations. Further consolidation of democracy and
improvement of the Nagorno Karabagh governance system will contribute
to the peaceful settlement of the Karabagh conflict," the statement
says. In this context, Rustamian noted that the European structures
should welcome any steps in the direction of consolidating democracy
in Nagorno Karabagh instead of making statements as was the case
after the constitutional referendum in Karabagh.

Rustamian stressed the importance of some issues connected with the
Armenian-Turkish relations in the context of Turkey’s EU membership
process.

The European Commission encourages Turkey to fully comply with its
status and undertake measures to establish democratic relations with
Armenia with no preconditions in accordance with the bills passed
by the European Parliament in 1987-2005, open the land border with
Armenia as well as the Kars-Gyumri railway.

As to Turkey’s internal and foreign policy issues, representatives of
Armenia and the EU once again stressed that Armenia should continue
its integration with European structures noting at the same that that
holding free and fair parliamentary elections will be an important
step in this direction and will strengthen Armenia’s involvement in
the European Neighborhood Policy.