According to a news report recently published in one of Armenia’s leading news sites, News.am, on 28 September, Eleni Theocharous, a member of the European Parliament and the President of the EU-Armenia Friendship Group and the members of the Parliament of the Southern Greek Cypriot Administration, Yorgos Perdikis and Michalis Giorgallas have visited Ara Babloyan, the President of the National Assembly of Armenia in occupied Nagorno – Karabakh.[1]

It is known that Eleni Theocharous, a member of the European Parliament, has been working on the development of Armenian-EU relations, highlighting the problems of Armenia in the European Parliament and protecting the rights of Armenians. Theocharous is a well-known figure in Armenia and the Armenian diaspora, and her interest in Armenia for many years has been reflected in the press. Therefore, her last visit is also not surprising in this context. What is most surprising is her close interest in Armenia being this long-lasting as a citizen of the Greek Cypriot Administration. However, considering the occupational attitude of the Greek Cypriot Administration in 1963, it is quite natural for a Greek Cypriot Administration’s citizen to visit the occupied territories within the framework of unlawfulness. To what extent can the illegal visit to occupied Azerbaijan land be taken for granted? And to what extent, after being a member of the European Parliament, as a part of a supranational[2] mechanism, is serving lawlessness compatible with the protection of European values?
The aim of the visit of two other Cypriot parliamentarians can be understood from this reason. In the meeting that was conducted with the Greek Cypriot citizen of the European Parliament, along with two parliamentarians from the Parliament of the Greek Cypriot Administration, the Armenian National Assembly President Ara Babloyan stated that the Armenian Committee has the intention of continuously supporting the Greek Cypriots in matters important for them and is pleased with the mutuality of this approach. Therefore, it is obvious that there is an apparent exchange of interests between Greek Cypriots and the Armenians. Similarly, Theocharous also stated that the Greek Cypriot Administration is always on the side of Armenia and the Armenian people and that they admired the “struggle” of the intruder state which supported the unlawfulness.

The authorities of the European Parliament have intertwined the Northern Cyprus issue with Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and have done their best to avert Azerbaijan from recognizing Northern Cyprus. This situation, which aims to legitimize the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia, the statements of the EP officials and the unlawful meetings organized in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh are not compatible with international or EU values. Therefore, the best response to such an inconsistency would be the recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus by Azerbaijan.

[1]Teokharus: “Avrupa Parlamantosunda Artsakh’a İlişkin İnisiyatiflere Desteğe Devam Edeceğiz” [Theocharous: We will continue supporting Karabakh-related initiatives at European Parliament], News.am, 29 September 2018, https://news.am/tur/news/473564.html      https://news.am/eng/news/473564.html

[2]“European Parliament”, International Democracy Watch, http://www.internationaldemocracywatch.org/index.php/european-parliament