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ANKARA: Armenian Weekly: Armenian People Support Turkey's EU Bid

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  • ANKARA: Armenian Weekly: Armenian People Support Turkey's EU Bid

    Journal of Turkish Weekly
    Jan 4 2005

    Armenian Weekly: Armenian People Support Turkey's EU Bid

    Agos, Armenian weekly newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey,
    reported that Armenian public strongly supports Turkey's EU
    membership.

    Agos reported in its latest issue that Armenian people in Armenia
    welcomed Turkey's success in the December 17 Brussels Summit.

    However, the paper stressed, it is observed that Armenians living in
    France in Diaspora conducted campaigns against Turkey in this
    process:

    `While the summit goes on, an Armenian group of approximately 2300
    people have made a demonstration near the EU Council Building in
    Brussels. The group, asked the so- called Armenian Genocide to be
    recognized by Turkey before full membership talks, and asked EU not
    to accept the Turkish membership because Turkey has not shared the
    ideal of Europe.'

    `Foreign Affairs Ministry of Armenia said `If Turkey meets all EU
    demands; the full membership of Turkey may also be beneficial for
    Armenia and may influence the region positively.' The government of
    Armenia argued that Turkey's Armenian border is still closed
    unilaterally, and Turkey has placed punishment to the use of the term
    `genocide'. Armenian government added that Turkey asserted
    unacceptable pre-conditions to normalize the relations with his own
    country. Besides, Armenia said `if Turkey listens to the society of
    Europe, this will enable to overcome the obstacles and guarantee a
    durable stability and development.'

    In a survey conducted by Armenian Strategic and National Research
    Center presided by Former Armenian Foreign Affairs Minister, Raffi
    Hovhannesyan, % 64 of 2000 Armenians from many different segments of
    the society were in favor of Turkey's accession.

    Besides, in the frame of this survey, 92 out of 100 experts supported
    the accession of Turkey to the EU.'

    Turkey has two pre-conditions to normalize its relations with
    Armenia:

    1) End Armenian occupation in Azerbaijani territories and do not
    attempt to change borders by force,
    2) Recognize Turkey's unity and national borders. Do all amendments
    that do not recognize Turkey's national borders,

    Armenian `genocide' allegations are not a pre-condition for Turkey.
    However Turkey says a historical and intellectual matter should not
    be abused to prevent Turkish-Armenian relations. A Turkish official
    said `An EU member Turkey could be a great opportunity for Armenian
    Republic'.

    Armenian forces still occupies about 20 per cent of Azerbaijani
    territories and 1 million Azerbaijanis became refugees after the
    occupation.
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