MEETINGS OF THE DELEGATION HEADED BY GORAN LENNMARKER IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

National Assembly of RA
Feb 10 2009
Armenia

On February 9 the President of the National Assembly of the Republic
of Armenia Mr Hovik Abrahamyan received the delegation headed by
the President Emeritus of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, OSCE
PA President’s Special Representative on Nagorno Karabakh Mr Goran
Lennmarker.

Welcoming the guests RA NA President Mr Hovik Abrahamyan highlighted
the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group in the process of peaceful
settlement of Karabakh conflict, highly assessing in this context
the unbiased and objective report. Mr Abrahamyan reaffirmed the
position of the Armenian authorities that the peaceful settlement
of the problem has no alternative, and drew attention once again
to bellicose announcements of Azaerbaijan, which proved that
in the neighbouring country they didn’t want to see the problem
resolved, otherwise they would try to prepare the society for the
peaceful settlement of the problem. Coming to the negotiations as
supporter of the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani authorities
they continue the war threats and appeals, hatred campaign in the
country. The RA NA President considered important the steps directed
to the peaceful settlement of the problem, the agreement achieved
in Saint Petersburg during the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan: accepting as a basis for negotiations the ‘Madrid
principles,’ signing of the Declaration on Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
the declaration adopted by the Foreign Ministers of OSCE 56 member
countries in Helsinki, within the World Economic Forum of Davos the
meeting of the RA President Mr Serzh Sargsyan and the President of
Azerbaijan Mr Ilham Aliyev in the city of Zurich, Switzerland.

Mr Abrahamyan stressed that declaring the Euro Integration as
political priority Armenia was interested in the rapid and peaceful
settlement of the problem based on concessions, which would promote
the implementation of the reforms directed to the strengthening
of democracy in the country more deeply. To the RA NA President’s
conviction, Armenia should have good neighbourly relations with all
the neighbours, and the initiative of RA President Mr Serzh Sargsyan
of inviting the President of Turkey Mr Abdullah Gul to Armenia
was its best example. Mr Abrahamyan noted that Armenia repeatedly
announced about its willingness of cooperation without preconditions,
considering impermissible that Turkey having intention to become EU
member would have close borders with its neighbouring country. In the
respect of regional development, highlighting the peace and stability,
Mr Abrahamyan noted that because of the events, which occurred in
South Ossetia the economy of Armenia had loss of 650 m USD.

In the settlement of Karabakh problem Mr Abrahamyan highlighted the
role of the parliament, noting that the National Assembly should be
the tribune, where discussions could be held with the participation
of political forces, NGOs over the peaceful resolution of Karabakh
problem. In this context the development of parliamentary diplomacy
was also highlighted.

Agreeing with the approaches of the RA NA President on the settlement
of the problem Mr Lennmarker welcomed the efforts of Armenia directed
to the peaceful settlement of the problem, noting that the events over
South Ossetia in August showed that problems should be resolved only
through peace, ensuring the regional security. To the conviction of
OSCE PA President Emeritus, the Karabakh problem should be settled
within the framework of OSCE Minsk Group.

Regarding the resolution of Nagorno Karabakh problem Mr Göran
Lennmarker noted with optimism that "golden opportunity" was created
for the settlement of Karabakh conflict this year, which would be
based on the compromises. To his conviction, the settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict would have an enormous impact on the whole
region of the Southern Caucasus. He also highlighted the expansion
of the parliamentary cooperation in Southern Caucasus countries,
noting that the existing relations should be strengthened through
parliamentary diplomacy and dialogue, to which greatly promoted also
the European Union Eastern Neighbourhood programme. In the context
of regional integration and cooperation Mr Lennmarker considered as
progress the initiative of inviting the President of Turkey to Armenia,
which in his opinion, would have positive continuation. Considering
impermissible the existence of close borders Mr Göran Lennmarker
noted that the European Union decided its external borders.

At the meeting other issues were also discussed.

The Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Mr Armen
Rustamyan had a meeting with the delegation headed by the President
Emeritus of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, OSCE PA President’s
Special Representative on Nagorno Karabakh Mr Göran Lennmarker.

During the talk Mr Armen Rustamyan emphasized the important role
of the European Union, assessing it as a reliable structure for
all countries. In the region in ensuring stability and peace,
in Mr Rustamyan’s opinion, the EU can have important contribution
with its adopted values. To the Committee Chairman’s observation,
this structure uniting the European countries has things to do
in the region for having united system of security in the region,
where there won’t be separating lines, and every country will have
higher level of security. Both Mr Lennmarker and Mr Rustamyan spoke
about impermissibility of resolving the conflicts through military
means noting as a precedent the regional last Russian-Georgian
clash. According To Mr Armen Rustamyan, we should learn a lesson; the
negotiation process of the conflicts’ resolution has no alternative,
especially the interest of different countries is great in the region,
and any clash can develop to a bigger one.

The Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations said
that in the previous year he noticed positive changes in the settlement
of the Karabakh problem: the Moscow Declaration on the solution of the
conflict exclusively through peaceful means was signed. According to
the speaker, the negotiations on Karabakh problem should be continued
only within the framework of OSCE Minsk Group, and the resolution
of the problem in other structures or formats is not realistic. In
order ro activate the regional cooperation Mr Rustamyan considered
important and necessary the participation of the European Union.

In this context Mr Göran Lennmarker spoke about the implementation of
the Eastern Neighbourhood or Partnership programme, which proposes a
new quality of relations of the South Caucasus countries with EU. The
President Emeritus of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly noticed that he
repeatedly criticized not very active policy pursued by the European
Union in this region. According to the European guest, the regional
cooperation will also promote the resolution of the conflicts. Speaking
about the Karabakh conflict Mr Lennmarker underlined the importance of
mutual compromises. Referring to the consultation held at the end of
the year by the President of the republic on Karabakh with political
forces and NGOs, Mr Armen Rustamyan noticed that the resolution
will be not only by the consent of the authorities but also by the
people. As Mr Armen Rustamyan characterized, the conscience of the
settlement of the problem through peaceful means and negotiations,
coming to an agreement through compromises existed in our society,
which, however, we couldn’t say about the Azerbaijani side. As Mr
Armen Rustamyan assessed, in sowing trust between conflicting sides the
EU has an important role. In response Mr Göran Lennmarker expressed
willingness for support.
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