Armenian-Turkish protocols and illegitimate Armenian authorities slow down international recognition of Armenian Genocide

YEREVAN, April 24. / ARKA /. Armenian-Turkish protocols and illegitimate Armenian authorities are two factors slowing down the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Aram Manukian, a senior member of the recently established Armenian National Congress party, said today.

Speaking to reporters he said the process of international recognition of the Armenian genocide slowed down after Armenia and Turkey signed protocols to normalize their relations, which called also for establishment of a commission of historians that was to rule out whether massacres of Armenians by Turkish government during World War I constituted genocide.

The process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey was initiated by Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan in the autumn of 2008. On October 10, 2009 Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers signed in Zurich, Switzerland, protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations and normalization of bilateral relations, which were to be ratified by the parliaments of the two countries. However, in 2010 April  Serzh Sargsyan suspended the process of ratification of the Armenian-Turkish protocols by Armenian parliament saying that Turkey was not ready to continue the process.

The second reason, according to Aram Manukian, is that for a long time Armenia did not have legitimate authorities.

"For a long time, Armenia has not had a president enjoying the confidence of his country fellows. When the authorities do not have the trust of the people, they do not enjoy the confidence of the international community either. A country, which has no elected president enjoying the confidence of people cannot  raise serious, historical questions before the world community," he said.

Manukyan said the first president of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, was unable together with his party members and supporters to visit the Genocide Memorial by reason of sickness, but his wife and other members of his family paid tribute to the Genocide victims.

The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth century. Turkey has been denying it for decades. The Armenian genocide was recognized by tens of countries. The first was Uruguay that did so in 1965. Other nations are Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, 42 U.S. states. The Armenian Genocide was recognized by the Vatican, the European Parliament, the World Council of Churches and other international organizations.  -0-