Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Armenian MPs urge Turkey to open borders, set up diplomatic ties

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Armenian MPs urge Turkey to open borders, set up diplomatic ties

    Armenian MPs urge Turkey to open borders, set up diplomatic ties

    Arminfo
    1 Dec 04

    YEREVAN

    Representatives of the Armenian delegation in the Black Sea Economic
    Cooperation Parliamentary Assembly [BSECPA] have had a 30-minute
    private meeting with Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc on the
    sidelines of the 24th session of the BSECPA.

    MP Gagik Mkheyan, chairman of the Armenian National Assembly
    commission for public health, environment and social issues, told
    today's press conference that Bulent Arinc had initiated the
    meeting. The Armenian deputy said that the meeting, which was also
    attended by a representative of the Turkish Foreign Ministry,
    discussed opening the Armenian-Turkish borders and establishing mutual
    diplomatic relations.

    At the meeting, Bulent Arinc said that Turkey was ready to establish
    relations with Armenia, however, there existed a number of problems
    that were impeding this. In particular, the Turkish speaker aired
    dissatisfaction with lobbyist activities of the Armenian diaspora over
    international recognition of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman
    Turkey in the early 1900s.

    At the same time, Bulent Arinc regretted the tragic events in Turkey
    in the beginning of the 20th century. But he noted that those events
    could not be qualified as genocide. He also expressed concern that
    Armenia was limp-wristed in the issue of returning the seized
    Azerbaijani lands. The speaker of the Turkish parliament said that the
    OSCE Minsk Group was inefficient in the issue of peaceful resolution
    of the Karabakh conflict. Bulent Arinc reiterated Turkey's readiness
    to mediate the peaceful negotiations on the Karabakh conflict.

    In turn, the Armenian MPs said that the issue of international
    recognition of the Armenian genocide remained as a priority issue on
    Yerevan's foreign policy agenda, but it was not an obstacle to
    establishing diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey. The
    Armenian delegation members noted that all disputable issues between
    Armenia and Turkey could be resolved provided there are bilateral
    diplomatic relations. They did not back Bulent Arinc's opinion that
    the OSCE Minsk Group's work was inefficient. The Armenian MPs, in
    particular, noted that the OSCE Minsk Group was today the only
    acceptable format where a peaceful resolution to the Karabakh conflict
    could be debated.

    Speaking about Turkey's possible admittance to the European Union, the
    Armenian delegation said that Armenia was not against Turkey's
    membership of the EU provided Ankara should review its policy on
    ethnic minorities in Turkey, as well as the issue of opening the
    Armenian-Turkish borders.

    On the whole, they noted that Armenia would be happy to have a
    neighbour which was a member of the EU. The Armenian delegation also
    noted the importance of expanding bilateral interparliamentary
    cooperation, which could be conducive to setting up Armenian-Turkish
    diplomatic relations. Gagik Mkheyan noted that very warm ties had
    shaped between the Armenian and Turkish parliamentary delegations in
    the BSECPA.
Working...
X