April 28, 2007

Raffi Hovannisian Addresses Transatlantic Forum
Meets with Solana, Verhofstadt, Scheffer, Breyer, Rehn, Yavlinskiy

Brussels—Raffi K. Hovannisian, who is participating in the Brussels Forum for the second consecutive year, offered comments at the Forum’s opening session, asserting that in direct furtherance of the European-Atlantic community’s pursuit of universal benchmarks of human rights and the rule of law, as well as common foreign and security policies, the Western world must also practice its own values by ensuring equal application in Europe and its neighborhood of its principles, precedents, and standards of accountability to all instances of conflict resolution—from Kosovo to Karabagh—and of genocide past and present.

He also participated in specialized sessions on Iran, Russia, and Turkey, urging his Turkish colleagues to meet the challenge of European values and membership by bravely facing their past and the collective legacy of the great Armenian dispossession, and to ask themselves whether Turkey will not lose Europe if the current mindset remains in power.

In the margins of this world conclave of movers and shakers, Hovannisian discussed both domestic and international developments with Secretary General Javier Solana of the European Union; Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt; Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt; U.S. Senator Bob Bennett; U.S. Congressman Jim Costa of Fresno; NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer; Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay; European Commissioner for Enlargement Dr. Olli Rehn; Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court; and Grigoriy Yavlinskiy, member of the Russian State Duma and chairman of the Democratic Party YABLOKO.

The Brussels Forum is also being attended by Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan.