Pashinyan denies accusations of being pro-Turkish
YEREVAN, May 10. /ARKA/. Armenia's acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan slammed today some opposition forces for trying to portray his government as being pro-Turkish.
Speaking at an emergency parliament session he added that these same forces go as far as to claim that his government and the parliamentary majority, dominated by pro-government My Step alliance, question the fact of the Armenian genocide that was committed by the government of Ottoman Turkey in 1915.
Pashinyan said that from 2018 (when he came to power) to 2021, 9 resolutions were adopted by different countries and organizations recognizing and condemning the Armenian genocide, while over the previous 10 years there were 10 such resolutions.
“Besides, a major and a turning point in the issue of international recognition took place - both houses of the US Congress and the US President have also recognized the Armenian genocide. Those who now accuse us of being pro-Turkish, had once dissuaded the United States from recognizing the Armenian Genocide,” Pashinyan said.
“Turkey is our enemy and at the same time a neighbor; usually enemies are neighbors; it would be difficult to imagine that any country below the equator would be considered our enemy. Today, only superpowers have enemies outside their region,” Pashinyan said.
According to him, the time has come to fix that the enmity "must be controlled, because in the end, when it boils, at some point it leads to an explosion."
During a recent visit to the Armavir province, Pashinyan stated that the long-term program of Armenia should be peace not war. He stated that Armenia has numerous enemies in the region. "But if we have numerous enemies in the region, it means that we are enemies for many in the region," he said.
In his opinion, Armenia should reconsider its assessment of the region, its behavior, its position in the region, also making sure that others also behave in this way.
Turkey officially recognized the Republic of Armenia on December 24, 1991, but still refuses to establish diplomatic relations with it. In 1993, Turkey unilaterally closed its air and land borders with Armenia. The air border was opened in 1995 under pressure from the international community.
The uneasy relationship between the countries is caused by Ankara’s support to Azerbaijan on Karabakh problem and Turkey’s overreaction to international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Empire. -0-
