YEREVAN—The EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee held its 15th meeting in Yerevan. The Committee adopted a “final statement” at the end of its session, calling for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, an end to the Artsakh War, and cooperation between Europe and Armenia.
“The Parliamentary Cooperation Committee recalls the historic European Parliament resolution of 1987 on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and, on the eve of the 100 year commemorations, calls on all the Member States to acknowledge it, and encourages the Member States and the EU Institutions to contribute further to its recognition; pays tribute to the memory of the innocent victims; is however encouraged by the fact that the issue has, in recent years, become the focus of open and public debate in Turkey itself,” the adopted statement reads.
The document also calls for the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey, which remains frozen as Turkey has closed its border with Armenia for the last quarter of a century.
“The Parliamentary Cooperation Committee deeply regrets the human cost of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and would expect from the EU to play a more active role in supporting further confidence building measures to spread the ideas of peace, reconciliation and trust among all sides; thus condemns actions taken to curb contacts between civil society and intellectuals from all sides,” the statement says.
The Committee calls for adherence to the OSCE Minsk Group-mediated peace negotiation process, which has been derailed in the past months by aggressive actions from Azerbaijan which have escalated violence on Artsakh’s borders to unprecedented levels since the cease fire was implemented.
The statement also calls for further EU-Armenia cooperation “in all possible areas.”
The statement notes that the Committee “underlines that both EU and Armenia have now identified the areas where cooperation is possible despite Armenia’s engagement in the Eurasian Economic Union,” taking on a more forward-looking perspective and setting the groundwork for both political and economic cooperation between Europe and Armenia.
Issues regarding human rights, infrastructure, and simplified visa regimes between the EU and Armenia are also covered in the Committee’s statement.