Mount Ararat that the biblical passage implies that the ark rested upon a "mountain in the district which the Hebrews knew as Ararat, or Armenia", wrote in an 1878 article for the Royal Geographical Society that the biblical writer must have had Mt. Ararat in mind because it is so "very much higher, more conspicuous, and more majestic than any other summit in Armenia." During his visit to Armenia in 2001 Pope John Paul II declared in his homily in Yerevan's St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral: "We are close to Mount Ararat, where tradition says that the Ark of Noah came to
Accession of Turkey to the European Union and Ukraine. The French Senate, however, blocked the change in the French constitution, in order to maintain good relations with Turkey. The current situation according to the French constitution is as follows: if of the delegates (from the Senate and the Parliament) agree to the accession of Turkey, there will be no referendum. Upon accession to the EU, Turkey expects to receive economic development aid similar to what Ireland, Greece and Portugal received. There is also an expectation that there will be an increase in European foreign investment in the Turkish economy, further driving economic growth. Additionally, in times of