Madame Chairperson,
\nLadies and Gentlemen,

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I would like to thank the Swiss chairmanship for their remarkable work in consolidating our collective efforts towards promoting the reforms and visibility of this Organization. I congratulate my Swiss colleague on the successful completion of their mission.

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This year marks the sixty-fifth anniversary of the end of the World War II, which caused unprecedented suffering and devastation to the peoples of Europe. Just a few days ago we again remembered all those who sacrificed their lives to ensure our common victory. The founding fathers of the Council, the leaders of the time and the peoples of Europe had paid their tribute to those perished in the two World Wars by creating conditions for making Europe a Union of hope and prosperity.

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Over the past period we have witnessed an unprecedented progress in the economic development, fundamental freedoms and respect for human rights, strengthening rule of law and social cohesion in Europe. While this Council has every reason to proudly present its share of contribution, it should also adapt itself to effectively responding to new challenges that can undermine our joint efforts to promote prosperity and understanding on the continent.

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Armenia supports the reform process initiated by the Secretary General Jagland in order to make this Council more relevant and visible within the transforming Europe. 

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Ever since its accession, Armenia has been enjoying the partnership of the Council, which provided instrumental assistance in the promotion of our domestic reforms. Armenia aspires for a stronger Council of Europe. We are determined to contribute to this aim not only by strengthening our own democratic institutions and practices, but also through engaging in activities, which can bring added value to the Council.

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In this context, we hope that the Forum for the Future of Democracy, which Armenia will host in Yerevan in October 2010, will be one such particular contribution as a platform for deliberations on democracy in the continent. We will also continue to invest our efforts in the timely and comprehensive implementation of the Interlaken Declaration and the Action Plan.

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Madam Chairperson,

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The vision of a peaceful and prosperous Europe is overshadowed by the existence of unresolved conflicts. Armenia is committed to the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Last year ten high level meetings were held between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. There was a positive dynamic in the process.

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The statement on Nagorno-Karabakh adopted last December in Athens by foreign ministers of the OSCE participating States emphasized the non-use of force and threat of force, territorial integrity, right of peoples to self-determination as basic principles for the resolution of the conflict. These principles are at the core of the Madrid document proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in 2007. The existence of this document was continuously denied by Azerbaijan until they claimed to have accepted it with some exceptions. If you try to find out what Azerbaijan has agreed and disagreed on, you will see there are more exceptions than what they have agreed to, and those are in their own interpretation.
\nAzerbaijan not only continues to misrepresent the causes and the consequences of the conflict as well as the essence of negotiations, but also resorts to the hate speech and the threats of use of force on every level and on any occasion.

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Drawing on the experience of the past years Armenia stands firm on the position that any Azerbaijani attempts to intervene in the negotiation process through formats other than the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship are counter-productive. Despite Azerbaijani war mongering and against all odds Armenia will remain committed to the conflict settlement through negotiations.

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As we routinely speak of Europe free of dividing lines we sometimes fail to notice the last remaining closed border in Europe that still symbolizes the division between our past, the present and the future. It was the initiative of the President of Armenia to normalize relations with Turkey. In spite of many difficulties, we started the process through the good offices of Switzerland, conducted the negotiations and signed the Protocols in Zurich last year with the common understanding that there could be no preconditions in the normalization process, a position shared by the mediators, supporters and the entire international community.

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Following this, Turkey started to use the same language of preconditions as it was doing before the process was launched and effectively blocked the ratification of the Protocols in the Turkish parliament. This is the reason why the President of Armenia decided to suspend the ratification process in Armenia until we can see our partners in Ankara are ready again to proceed without preconditions. This step was perceived positively by international community.

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Madame Chairperson,

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I am confident that my colleague Antonio Milososki will be strongly determined to take our common agenda forward and I stand ready to support him in his good endeavors.

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Thank you.