On June 19 the members of NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations met the delegation of Committees on Foreign Relations and Defence and Security Affairs of the Senate of the Czech Republic, which arrived in Armenia on an official visit.

Welcoming the guests, Armen Roustamyan, Committee Chairman highlighted the cooperation of the two countries’ parliaments, underscoring the necessity of activating the bilateral ties, which can be efficient in the aspect of cooperation of experience exchange, as well as political, economic, commercial and cultural spheres.

Rostislav Slavotinek, Committee Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, Defence and Security Affairs of the Czech Senate also highlighted the activation of political, inter-parliamentary and trade-economic ties, cooperation in legal-contractual field. Jan Štĕtina, Committee member noted that upon the initiative of him and the Armenian community of the Czech republic, as well as upon the sponsorship Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic a conference dedicated to the 1915 Armenian Genocide organized in the Senate two months ago. The MP expressed a hope that in autumn the Senate of the Czech Republic will adopt a declaration on recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

In response to the question of the Czech side if positive moves are noticed recently in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and if the Minsk Group hasn’t exhausted itself and a necessity of the new format hasn’t occurred, Mr. Roustamyan answered that there is no necessity of new format, as the OSCE Minsk Group has been involved with the settlement of the key problem since 1992. It deeply masters the problem, and during the last eight years has presented three valuable recommendations. And why there are no positive moves in the negotiation, then, according to Armen Roustamyan, unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan denies the submitted recommendations and refuses signing any document, which contradicts its views of the solution of the key problem. In Mr. Roustamyan’s opinion, only by the development of the regional partnership we can reach success in the process of the conflicts’ settlement, to which Azerbaijan and Turkey greatly impede with their pursued policy, which creates divisive lines in the region and drives back the solution of the key problem.

Upon the guests’ request Mr. Roustamyan touched upon EU-Turkey and Armenia-Turkey relations, noting that Armenia repeatedly declared about its readiness to start relations without preconditions, in response to which the Turkish side proposes preconditions, also in the context of Armenia-Azerbaijan relationship. Touching upon Turkey’s possible membership to EU, Mr. Roustamyan noted that the European Union is not only a geographical area, but, first of all, a system of values and for becoming a EU member it’s necessary to learn the European values, highlighting in this context the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey because as Turkey hasn’t recognized the Genocide, there is no guarantee that it won’t be repeated again.

The Czech side, agreeing with Armen Roustamyan, added that the negotiations around EU membership will continue 10-15 years, and it’s mandatory to comply Turkey’s external and inner policy with the European standards.

During the meeting the sides discussed the perspectives of the development of bilareal relations and other issues of bilateral interest.