HISTORIC TRIP TO ARMENIA FOCUSES ON MEDIATION
Swissinfo, Switzerland
June 12 2006
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has signed an agreement on double
taxation during a visit to Armenia – the first visit ever by a Swiss
cabinet minister.
Switzerland also offered to act as a mediator in the long-running
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region
of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Calmy-Rey also laid a wreath at a memorial for the victims of the
massacre by troops of the former Ottoman Empire 90 years ago.
Calmy-Rey held talks with her Armenian counterpart, Vardan Oskanyan,
in the capital Yerevan on Monday. The discussions focused on bilateral
relations and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to the Swiss
foreign ministry.
Switzerland offered to act as a mediator in a bid to broker a peace
agreement. Earlier this year Calmy-Rey also visited neighbouring
Azerbaijan.
However, Calmy-Rey said neither of the two countries in the southern
Caucasus region had requested further steps by Switzerland.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war over the territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh between 1988 and 1994, killing tens of thousands of
people and forcing hundreds of thousands out of their homes.
Massacre
Calmy-Rey said she also discussed the killing of up to 1.5 million
ethnic Armenians by troops of the former Ottoman Empire between 1915
and 1919.
She laid a wreath at the monument for the victims of massacre.
“I wanted to express my sympathy with the people,” she said. She played
down a possible worsening of relations with Turkey over the issue.
The Swiss government does not recognise the killings and deportations
as genocide, but one chamber of the Swiss parliament voted in 2003
to follow the United Nations and the European parliament in doing so.
Calmy-Rey also signed an agreement on double taxation in Yerevan in
an effort to spur closer economic relations between Switzerland and
Armenia. Switzerland has been providing development to Yerevan since
a powerful earthquake hit northern Armenia in 1988.
Israel
Calmy-Rey had arrived in Armenia after a brief visit to Israel at
the weekend to discuss a planned conference of the Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies in Geneva later this month.
The conference is expected to approve the introduction of a third
humanitarian emblem – a red crystal – to accommodate Israel’s Red
Star of David organisation.
The humanitarian agencies of Israel and the Palestinian Authorities
agreed on the symbol at a conference in Geneva last November.
Switzerland is the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions, a set
of regulations to protect civilians in times of conflict.
The Swiss foreign minister said she also criticised the Israeli army
for firing artillery at targets in densely populated areas in the
Gaza Strip. At least seven were killed in the attack on Friday.
Calmy-Rey added that the Israeli foreign minister, Zipi Livni, had
apologised for the incident and promised to launch an investigation.