December 19, RA National Assembly Speaker Tigran Torosian met with EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby, who arrived in Armenia to attend the extended parliamentary, the RA NA press office said.

The Speaker described the diplomat's visit as manifestation of EU's attention to regional problems. He gave a high estimation to the role of the European Union in the region and emphasized that Armenia adheres to EU principles and values.

For his part, Mr Semneby stressed the importance of discussing the Armenian-Turkish problem in the context of European integration. "Both Yerevan and Ankara should define and accept the principles the Armenian-Turkish relations will base on," he said. "Dialogue is a basis for overcoming difficulties. Armenia's position meets these principles. We concede that there are problems which should be omitted for a while. As for Turkey, it turns Armenia's problems with a third country, Azerbaijan, over to the Armenian-Turkish relations. It can overcome the complex evoked by the Armenian Genocide and keeps the border closed, thus conflicting with European values."

"Still in autumn 2003 we proposed the head of the Turkish delegation to PACE to meet and establish a kind of relations but no response has come so far," he noted.

Touching upon recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the Speaker said that Turkey's proposal to form a joint commission of historians is unacceptable, since Armenia doesn't question the fact of Genocide.