ANCA: No new trade deals while Turkey blockades Armenia, occupies Cyprus

YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS: During testimony on Thursday before the US Trade Policy Staff Committee (USTPSC), Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Government Affairs Director Kate Nahapetian called upon the US government to condition Turkey’s participation in any new Transatlantic trade initiatives upon Ankara's immediate lifting its blockade of Armenia and ending its occupation of Cyprus, reports Armenpress referring to ANCA.

Nahapetian offered the ANCA's testimony during the first of two-days of public hearings regarding the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The hearing was chaired by Doug Bell, who heads the TPSC, and included the participation of representative from a broad range of US agencies including the Departments of Treasury, State, Commerce, Transportation, and Health and Human Services.

"Turkey's blockade of Armenia, a landlocked nation, which has been in force for more than two decades and prevents an important East-West trade route, is among the longest-standing in modern history," explained Nahapetian. "This blockade is all the more objectionable, since Turkey's act of economic aggression is targeted against the very Armenian people that Turkey's predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, attempted to exterminate during the Armenian Genocide."

Nahapetian went on to point out that, "We are particularly concerned about Turkey's unwillingness to comply with previous trade agreements. Since its 2005 Customs Union Agreement with the European Union, Turkey has refused to implement the requirements of beginning to normalize relations with the Republic of Cyprus, a European Union member, and opening its ports and airports to Cyprus. Turkey must demonstrate that it no longer flagrantly violates trade obligations before being granted any preferential treatment under the Transatlatic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)."

During a question and answer session with TPSC Chairman Doug Bell and U.S. Assistant Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East Dan Mullaney, Nahapetian discussed the ANCA's commitment to the expansion of the U.S.-Armenia trade relationship, focusing specifically on the benefits to bilateral commerce that could be realized through the negotiation of a U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty and a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement.

The Turkish government, has, in recent months, lobbied Washington aggressively for inclusion in a proposed far-ranging Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the US and the European Union, as well as for its own US-Turkey bilateral free trade agreement. The ACA, along with the American Hellenic Institute (AHI) and the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), has submitted a joint written statement to the USTPSC encouraging the US government to require, as a pre-condition for any new trade deals involving Turkey, that Ankara have fully withdrawn its military occupation of Cyprus, unconditionally lifted its illegal economic blockade of Armenia, and ended all obstacles to trade, investment, and other forms of commerce it has imposed upon Cyprus and Armenia.