EU’S AMBITIOUS EFFORTS TO NORMALIZE THE RELATIONS BETWEEN TURKEY AND ARMENIA

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Feb 7 2008

The EU Troika arrived in the capital of Armenia Yerevan in February
6 and Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and his Slovenian
counterpart Dimitrij Rupel had a joint conference. The agenda was
considerably consistent and the first day contacts brought front
important consequences for Turkey-Armenian relations, too.

Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel of EU’s rotating president Slovenia
mentioned that EU attaches great importance to Armenian presidential
election. It is known that attaching importance to the forthcoming
presidential election, EU has pressure on Armenia to give importance
to European Neighborhood Policy, and especially want the country
to focus on furnishing closer relations with South Caucasian States
which are striding towards democracy.

During the talks the foreign ministers also discussed the
Armenian-Turkish relations. Dimitrij Rupel mentioned that Armenia and
Turkey have failed to fix progress in normalization of relations
so far, and the European Union is ready to contribute to the
Armenia-Turkey dialogue which proceeds from interests of all sides.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress