Press Service

On 17 April, during its annual General Assembly taking place in Bautzen, Germany, the European Free Alliance party (EFA), a pan-European political family, voted in favour of integrating the Democratic Party of Artsakh (DPA) into its ranks.

"The EFA associated membership granted today is important not only because it contributes to a further international exposure of Karabakh. It also shows that Nagorno-Karabakh's political development is in line with EU standards and that its democratic progress is comparable with what we have in the EU" explains Mr Lorenzo Ochoa, Director of European Friends of Armenia.

On 15 April, the European Parliament has gathered for a mini-plenary session in Brussels. One of the texts passed was a resolution on the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. Making reference to other European texts voted on the issue in the recent years, the resolution "pays tribute, on the eve of the Centenary, to the memory of the one-and-a-half million innocent Armenian victims" and calls on Turkey "to come to terms with its past, to recognise the Armenian genocide and thus pave the way for a genuine reconciliation between Turkish and Armenian peoples".

European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) warmly welcomes this resolution. EuFoA Director Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa comments: "The European Parliament has once again proven its solidarity and support to the Armenian people, paying tribute to the innocent victims of the Genocide thus expressing its strong rejection to any kind of genocide denialism. The Parliament's stance on genocides and crimes against humanity could not be clearer! "

Today, on March 20, the fifteenth meeting of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC), composed of European and Armenian parliamentarians, was held in Yerevan. The PCC adopted a joint statement on the future of EU-Armenia relations, the Armenian Genocide and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Director of European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) Mr Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa comments: "The adoption of this text together with a deep degree of mutual understanding and collaboration by both delegations show that EU-Armenia parliamentary relations are at the highest level. In the context of the EURONEST PA that finished on Wednesday in Yerevan and the visit to Armenia of EU Commissioner Hahn, it was a very good week for EU-Armenia relations overall."