Armenia “wishes to open the only closed border remaining in Europe and establish normal relations with Turkey with no strings attached,” Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on Monday at a joint news conference with his Cyprus counterpart Demetris Christophias.
“(However) we are not going to permit the negotiating process to be used for misleading the international community,” he said. “Armenia has never came out against Turkey's membership in the European Union,” the president said. Armenia expects that “becoming a member of the European Union Turkey will be a more predictable, safer and more in keeping with our notions.” “If Turkey one day accedes to the EU, Armenia will become an immediate neighbour of the EU and will have a common border with it,” Sargsyan hopes. He said this means, “not just to have the common border but to expect from the neighbour manifestations of being neighbours according to European criteria,” when “not only political and economic relations are important but also the observance of arrangements reached.” The Armenian president said “in our case, failure to observe mutual arrangements leads to the growth of distrust and to the deepening of the rift which it will be more difficult to overcome in future.” ”We are for Turkey's membership in the EU,” Sargsyan confirmed.
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