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Armenian Week at Press Club Brussels Europe - EuFoA

Armenian Week at Press Club Brussels Europe

o celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Armenian Independence, European Friends of Armenia organised an ‘Armenian Week’ with the Press Club Brussels Europe. This new and attractive venue was inaugurated by the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barrosso, in February 2011.

Throughout the week, visitors were greeted by the Armenian flag at the Press Club’s entrance and introduced to one of Armenia’s finest produce: its famous cognac “Ararat Nairi – 20 years”. Against this background, two events were hosted:

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Tigran Sargsyan, opened the Armenian Week on Monday 19 September. The assembled press and members of the public were the first to hear the results of the Prime Minister’s meeting with Commissioner Stefan Füle, held earlier that afternoon. He spoke of the challenges that Armenia has overcome over the past twenty years, adding that that “there is still a mismatch between our ideas and aspirations on the one hand, and our reality on the other”. His briefing paid particular attention to the implementation of the joint EU-Armenia reform agenda and the Commission’s positive assessments of Armenia’s reform path.

 

Later in the week, Armenian Independence Day (Wednesday 21 September) was marked by a Book Preview. The book, “Europe’s Next Avoidable War: Nagorno-Karabakh”, was edited by Dr Michael Kambeck and Dr Sargis Ghazaryan. Each of the experts on the panel (all of whom contributed to the book) presented his unique perspective on the conflict. First, Dr Ghazaryan explained the rationale for the book, and how it fills a gap in the existing literature on Nagorno-Karabakh and on EU’s role in the settlement of that conflict. Then, Dr Charles Tannock MEP spoke of the EU’s role in the conflict, advising that “it is much better to do prevention, rather than cure”. Dr Dirk Rochtus explained some parallels between the Nagorno-Karabakh question and the Flemish case, offering an original approach. In his exposé, Mr Frank Engel MEP continued the theme of transcending the nation-state and its traditional borders when searching for a solution to the conflict, also drawing on the experience of his native Luxembourg. Finally, Professor Coulie focussed on Nagorno-Karabakh’s particular identity as a border-zone, “a place of encounters”, which therefore presents problems for the nation-state template. In fact, the EU itself is partly responsible for promoting this template in the South Caucasus, and should hence widen its currently infant engagement there.

 

From these five presentations and the discussion that followed them, it is clear that this is a timely book. As Dr Tannock highlighted, it is particularly important now that the EU’s attention is on its southern neighbourhood, in the wake of the “Arab Spring”. The EU must not forget its Eastern neighbours, and notably the “frozen conflicts” in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to an Armenian legend, the national poet Sayat Nova once sat on a high rock in the middle of the desert, explaining that “nothing is happening here right now, but it might – and then I will have the best perspective”. Drawing on the wisdom of this legend, and worried by the increasingly volatile situation on the Line of Contact the book’s contributors are united in their belief that the EU can – and should – play a role in the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

 

Images from the Armenian Week in Brussels

 

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