Lennmarker: Turkey should open Armenian border

Goran Lennmarker, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Rapporteur on Nagorno Karabakh conflict, met on Tuesday with the members of the Armenian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.Speaking during the meeting, Vahan Hovhannisian, National Assembly vice speaker and the head of the Armenian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, mentioned that Lennmarker’s report at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Washington session stirred great interest in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Due to the campaign we launched, Hovhannissian said, the report was admitted positively in Armenia, where there are no political forces that do not realize the need for mutual concessions in order to reach a final solution to the conflict. However, he added, it would be hard to find a political force in Azerbaijan willing to agree to similar concessions, so it is the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s task to find one. He also hailed Lennmarker for initiating direct talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Brussels and Washington. Hovhannisian proposed that Lennmarker head an ad hoc working group comprised of members from Armenia, Azerbaijan, as well as OSCE Parliamentary Assembly members well-informed of the conflict to work on a joint resolution. Mr. Lennmarker expressed his agreement with Hovhannisian’s proposals and noted that this golden opportunity should be grasped by the parliamentarians. Speaking of the Armenian-Turkish relations, Lennmarker said Armenia would benefit from the EU-Turkey negotiations. As for Turkey’s blockade of Armenia, Lennmarker said Turkey must open its border since EU policies are those of open borders.