Alan Duncan: We condemned Armenian massacres 100 years ago (video)
Alan Duncan, Minister of State of the UK for Europe and the Americas at the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, was on the way to surprise Armenian journalists when answering a question about Great Britain`s position on the Armenian Genocide. “Great Britain condemned the massacre of Armenians 100 years ago. Today I visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex and after laying a wreath, I visited the Genocide Museum-Institute. There are also British documents there,” Mr. Duncan said today during a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. Before that the Minister of State congratulated Armenia for the constitutional referendum as a result of which the country decided to switch to a parliamentary system of government. He says several years later Armenians will undoubtedly have something to tell the British [people] about the benefits of this system of government. During the joint press conference, the two diplomats discussed joint efforts in the fight against terrorism as well as actions to increase trade volume between the two countries. Journalists were particularly interested in the idea that the Minister expressed during the Sixth Armenia-Diaspora Conference in Yerevan. The Armenian FM said in part that Armenia should surrender several regions to resolve the Karabakh issue. Which districts did the Minister mean? “Some quotes and comments were cut out of the context. I didn`t speak about concrete regions or about the conflict. I spoke about the three principles included in the five statements of the [OCSE] Minsk Group co-chairing countries, which, as the co-chairs state, are a whole and the attempts to single out any of the principles will make the settlement impossible. This is what Azerbaijan has been doing [for years],” Mr. Nalbandian said. Mr. Nalbandian reminded everyone that the most important is the issue of Artsakh’s status and security. Armenia’s approaches are in line with the proposals included in the co-chairs’ statements which Armenia tries to accept as a basis for negotiations while Azerbaijan simply neglects them. Journalists asked the minister to present Armenia’s stance on the independence referendum organized by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. “We expect the Government of Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq to avoid [further] tensions and have an opportunity to solve the existing problems,” the Armenian FM said.
