VARTAN OSKANIAN’S LETTER TO NANCY PELOSI PRESENTED TO MEPS

ArmRadio – Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 3 2007

The European Armenian Federation presented the letter of Armenian
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to
Members of the European Parliament, particularly members of the
Foreign Affairs Committee.

Chairwoman of the European Armenian Federation Hilda Tchoboyan told
Armenpress that the initiative pursues the aim to refute the incorrect
provisions of the recurrent report on the process of Turkey’s accession
to the EU reflected in Vartan Oskanian’s statement, saying: "I regret
to say that there is no process in place to promote normalization of
relations between Armenia and Turkey."

Let us remind that hours later the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
European Parliament will vote on the recurrent report on Turkey-EU
relations presented by Dutch Christian-Democrat Mrs. Oomen-Ruijten,
which makes no reference to Armenian issues. During the first European
Parliament deputies proposed 236 amendments aimed at improving the
draft resolution on "EU-Turkey Relations."

Numerous amendments, proposed by MEPs from various political parties,
aim to address Armenian issues, which were fully censored in the draft
text. Hence, Turkey’s will to exclude Armenia from regional projects
and its direct blockade of Armenia are denounced by several amendments
including those from Conservatives (EPP), Liberals (Lib/Dem),
Souverainists (UEN) and Socialists (PSE). These amendments as well
as those by the Leftists (GUE) reiterate the requirement that Ankara
recognize the Armenian Genocide and put an end to its official policy
of denial.

Eight suggestions were presented by the European Armenian Federation.

Hilda Tchoboyan noted that teh Federation does not have great
expectations from the vote in teh Foreign Affairs Committee. "I think
the scenario of the previous years will repeat. Before we connected
greater hopes with the results of the resolution’s discussion in the
European Parliament," said Hilda Tchoboyan.

It’s worth mentioning that the Christian-Democrat party in the
Netherlands, the CDA (Christian Democrat Appel), has announced
that Mr. Osman Elmaci has been turned down from having a seat in
the European Parliament due to his attitude toward and his remarks
denying the Armenian Genocide.

Mr. Elmaci, who had already been ousted from the last legislative
elections for the same reasons, was the number three person behind the
current MEP Joop Post, who has resigned. He was to become a Member of
the European Parliament after the withdrawal of Mr. Bartho Pronk’s
candidacy. CDA leaders, already having a past record of principled
stance against genocide denial, vetoed this possibility.

Mr. Post will finally be replaced by Mr. Cornelis Visseur.

"We congratulate the CDA party for this courageous and visionary
political decision. Denial – under the pretext of ‘freedom of
expression’ – can only serve to perpetuate the racial hatred from
which it derives," declared Laurent Leylekian, Executive Director of
the European Armenian Federation.

"Avoiding the genocide issue in this resolution is as serious as
the open denial of Mr. Elmaci. In fact, it constitutes a form of
denial that is more perverse and now more prevalent, that is denial
by omission," added Leylekian.

"We call on the CDA party to treat Mrs. Oomen-Ruijten’s case with
the same moral demands it made with Mr. Elmaci, i.e. by charging her
to comply with her own party line in the combat against any form of
denial," concluded Leylekian.