Armenian President and EU representative discussed Karabakh issue and RA-Turkish process

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has received EU representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby.

Discussion between officials focused on issues included in Armenia-EU agenda, presidential press service reported.

Peter Semneby told Armenian leader that European Union is currently implementing active reforms.

Parties also exchanged views over regional processes, particularly Karabakh settlement talks and Armenian-Turkish relations.



The Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) Republic (NKR) is a de facto independent republic located in the South Caucasus, bordering by Azerbaijan to the north and east, Iran to the south, and Armenia to the west.



After the Soviet Union established control over the area, in 1923 it formed the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) within the Azerbaijan SSR. In the final years of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan launched an ethnic cleansing which resulted in the Karabakh War that was fought from 1991 to 1994.



Since the ceasefire in 1994, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control of Nagorno Karabakh defense army.



Armenia and Azerbaijan have since been holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group.



The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks held through Swiss mediation.



On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country's Organic Law.



The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 member states,  located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the European Communities.



On 1 December 2009 the Lisbon Treaty came into force after a protracted and controversial birth. This reformed many aspects of the EU but in particular created a permanent President of the European Council, the first of which is Herman van Rompuy, and a strengthened High Representative, Catherine Ashton.