Armenia questions to Europe
The accession process aims inter alia for the adoption by candidate states of a system of government compatible with EU membership (democracy, the rule of law and good neighbourly relations), and of EU legislation in all fields of EU activity.
- Human rights are among the accession process’ central concerns. The European Commission’s yearly reviews have come to examine institutional discriminations against non-muslim populations, including Armenians, with increasing accuracy. As the EC readily recognizes, this has not yet had a marked impact on the ground however.
- The European Council has demanded an “unequivocal commitment to good neighbourly relations” from Turkey, a reference to Turkey’s difficult relations with several neighbours, including Armenia. Though EU officials have spoken in favour of opening the border, neither the EU Council nor the Commission have yet addressed Turkey’s policy towards Armenia in the context of the accession process, however.
- The European Parliament alone, of the three main EU Institutions has called upon Turkey to end its campaign of denial of the Armenian genocide and allow free debate on the subject. The European Commission, avoids the issue, which it views as an historiographical dispute, has adopted ambiguous language on the question and has even banned the word “genocide” from its own vocabulary when referring to the fate of Turkey's Armenians.
