EUROPE-ARMENIA ADVISORY COUNCIL PUBLISHES CALL FOR ACTION ON ARMENIA-TURKEY RAPPROCHEMENT

armradio.am
11.02.2010 18:43

The Europe-Armenia Advisory Council issued an open letter, published
in the European media, to call on key European actors to be more
involved in the rapprochement between Armenia and Turkey. The process
risks to be marred by attempts to put preconditions to ratification
of the Armenia-Turkey protocols by tandem of Turkish and Azerbaijani
leadership.

In the open letter, the Europe-Armenia Advisory Council states that
it "calls upon all EU Institutions to intervene with all possible
instruments, including a high-level visit to the region, in order
to urge both sides to ratify the protocols without preconditions and
within a reasonable timeframe, which should not exceed two months".

In the open letter the to the President of the European Parliament
Jerzy Buzek, The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Baroness
Ashton, The Chair of the EP’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Gabriele
Albertini, The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus,
Peter Semneby, and the Chair of the EP’s South Caucasus Delegation,
Milan Cabrnoch, the Europe-Armenia Advisory Council:

1. calls upon all EU Institutions to intervene with all possible
instruments, including a high-level visit to the region, in order
to urge both sides to ratify the protocols without preconditions and
within a reasonable timeframe, which should not exceed two months;

2. encourages all regional actors to contribute constructively to
the ongoing process and especially invites Azerbaijan to join these
efforts;

3. notes the statement of the US State Department welcoming the
Armenian Constitutional Court’s ruling on the Armenia-Turkey protocols
and calls upon all relevant European institutions to issue a similar
statement, underlining that this court ruling freed the way for the
protocols’ ratification in Armenia and must not be misused by any
party as a pretext to derail the ratification process;

4. calls upon the Armenian government and the Armenian Diaspora around
the world to resist the Turkish government’s new attempt to link the
ratification of the protocols to the international recognition of
the Armenian genocide;

5. reminds all parties involved not to turn to populism during the
historic process of re-establishing ties between Turkey and Armenia."