YEREVAN (Arminfo)–Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian hailed the European Parliament’s adoption of three strongly worded measures by the European Parliament calling on Turkey to properly recognize the Armenian genocide–lift its blockade of Armenia–and abandon it hostile policies toward Armenia and the Armenian people.
In an interview with Public Television of Armenia–Oskanian stressed the political significance of the measures. Calling the resolution the joint victory of Armenia’s diplomacy and the diaspora–particularly European Armenian organizations–Oskanian was cautiously optimistic. "If during the first stage–Turkey does not conform to the political criteria–including improvement of relations with Armenia–negotiations will not necessarily be broken off," he noted.
The provisions were added on the eve of the December 17 vote of the European Council on opening membership talks with Turkey as amendmen’s to a Parliamentary report on Turkey’s progress toward accession to the European Union.