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On September 10-13 the delegation led by the head of RA NA Armenia-Poland Friendship Group, the Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs Hrayr Karapetyan was on an official visit in the capital of Poland, Warsaw, at the invitation of the head of Poland-Armenia Friendship Group Łukasz Abgarowicz. The members of NA Armenia-Poland Friendship Group Hovhannes Margaryan, Artsvik Minasyan, Vardan Bostanjyan, Shirak Torosyan and Armen Martirosyan were in the delegation.

The legislators had meetings within different formats in the Parliament of Poland, with the responsible officials of the foreign departments.

In the course of the meetings the deputies of the Friendship Groups of the two countries emphasized the activation of the inter-parliamentary cooperation in the political, economic and cultural spheres, and noted the necessity of organizing mutual visits as an important precondition for strengthening the friendly relations and developing mutually beneficial cooperation. During the meetings the parties touched upon Armenia-Poland, Armenia-European Union relations, in particular, the rapprochements and efficiency of cooperation between the resident representatives and official delegations of Armenia and Poland in European structures, in the UN and other international structures.

The Armenian delegation had meetings with Jerzy Wenderlich, as well as the Chairman of the National Defence Committee of the Senate of the Republic of Poland Maciej Klima, and the Vice Marshal of the Sejm Mr. Dariusz Seliga. The head of the delegation detailed on the processes directed to the Armenian-Turkish relations and the peaceful settlement of the NK conflict. Hrayr Karapetyan noted that from the beginning Turkey, furthering various pretexts and reasons, was impeding the process of the relations’ settlement and brought forth preconditions, which was unacceptable for Armenia. In connection with NK issue Hrayr Karapetyan clarified that Karabakh could not be part of Azerbaijan, as the security of the Karabakh people could be endangered. The speaker once again reaffirmed the Armenian stance of the NK issue settlement within the OSCE Minsk Group. In his presentation, the Nagorno Karabakh problem and normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations are separate problems, and they shall not be connected with each other.

During the meetings with the plenipotentiary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrzej Chreshkowski, the director of the Eastern Department of the Foreign Ministry Jarosław Bratkiewicz and the responsible person on Caucasus Affairs Tomasz Orlowski the members of Armenia-Poland Friendship Group discussed the cooperation within the framework of the Eastern Partnership Programme and the new opportunities. Meetings were also organized with the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Andrzej Halicki and the Chairman of the Standing Sub-Committee on Eastern Partnership Tomasz Lenz. The deputies of the National Assembly conveyed Armenia’s willingness of forming serious relations with the European Union. At the same time they considered useful the Polish experience and support, especially that in 2011 Poland would assume the presidency of the European Union. The parties also touched upon the issues of easing the order of providing entry visas in the nearest future. The Polish Senator Łukasz Abgarowicz noted Poland highly assessed the friendly and partnership relations with Armenia and expected new developments. The NA deputies welcomed the steps directed to the Armenian-Turkish relations’ normalization, at the same time documenting that in 2005 Poland recognized the Armenian Genocide and found that Turkey should do the same. In this issue Poland is ready to support Armenia, the Polish parliamentarians ensured.

Within the framework of the visit other issues were also discussed. Shirak Torosyan voiced about the problems of the Javakhk, documenting cases of violating the rights of the national minorities. It was noted that Armenia expected the support of Poland in fighting the policy being applied towards the national minorities in Georgia. The parties also talked about the necessity of developing the economic relations, in particular, touching upon in this matter the role of parliamentarians and the support of the executive power.