Expert: EU should help Armenia find a way forward

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Union should do everything to help Armenia find a way forward following its defeat in the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh, according to an article published by Emerging Europe.

"The EU has barely engaged, and beyond a brief statement from its high representative following the ceasefire in November last year, there has been no sense of vision or a desire from the EU to try and involve itself in a meaningful way in the post-war settlement," says author William Lavender, policy and advocacy officer at European Friends of Armenia.

"Neither has it gone unnoticed that whilst the EU has offered a speedy response in these circumstances, it has stood by silently on the issue of Armenian POWs. This, despite an agreement from last December that was supposed to see both sides return all POWs on an “all for all” basis."

The latest scenes from Yerevan are a reminder of the urgent need to find a way forward, the author says.

"Fresh elections seem the only route to offering some sense of closure and a means to letting Armenian society feel that there has been an opportunity for some form of political accountability following the war" he says.

"The EU should be doing all it can to aid that process. This means engaging with many of the difficult issues that underpin the crisis, even if the EU might find it easier to ignore them. Seeking a role for Europe and the U.S. in the peace, via the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) most likely, should be its ultimate goal, but using its voice to apply pressure on Baku to have all Armenian POWs released, a bare minimum for building trust, should be the start."