Anna Nazaryan
Public Radio of Armenia
“The Turkish Foreign Minister’s visit to Yerevan was neither historic, nor important. It was simply a working visit and would not solve the knot of Armenian-Turkish relations,” Chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on European Integration Naira Zohrabyan said during a seminar on the Role of the Committees dealing with EU Affairs in the Parliaments of Member States organized by the EU Advisory Group in Armenia. “The issue will not be solved as long as the Erdogan-Gul-Davutoglu trio exists,” she said.
Although Naira Zohrabyan does not support the foreign policy conducted by the Armenian authorities, she understands that “membership in the Customs Union was a question of life, taking into consideration the Karabakh issue.”
According to her, the “either, … or” question was not to be posed from the very beginning. “It was necessary to conduct a balanced policy in order not to look an unreliable partner to the international community,” Naira Zohrabyan said, adding, however, that the dialogue with the EU is not exhausted, but greater efforts are needed.
Andrey Didenko, the Political Adviser of the EU Delegation, noted in his speech that the EU is ready to support Armenia on the path of political reforms.
Ilmar Solims, Adviser on EU Approximation and Governance, noted that constitutional amendments are needed to bring the Armenian legislation in line with that of the EU, but at this point there are no concrete priorities that should lie in the basis of the Armenia-EU dialogue. “It’s not yet clear how the laws should be approximated and this is up to Armenia to decide,” he said.
