Sargsyan: Turkey’s acknowledgment of the Armenian genocide is‘shortest path’ to reconciliation
23.04.2015,
13:46
The acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide by Turkey will be the shortest was to reconciliation of the two nations, Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan said in his interview to EuroNews TV channel, Novosti-Armenia reports.
YEREVAN, April 23. /ARKA/. The acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide by Turkey will be the shortest was to reconciliation of the two nations, Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan said in his interview to EuroNews TV channel, Novosti-Armenia reports.
This year Armenia is commemorating the centenary of the genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 2015. High-ranking officials and delegation from various countries are expected to arrival to pay tribute to the victims of the genocide on April 24.
If the genocide is acknowledged by Turks, and if it is done sincerely, Armenia-Turkey relations will reach a new and a quite high level quickly, Armenia’s president said.
There are currently no diplomatic relations established between Turkey and Armenia: official Ankara closed the border in 1993. The uneasy relationship between the countries is caused particularly by Ankara’s support to Azerbaijan on Karabakh problem and Turkey’s overreaction to international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Empire.
Armenia’s leader said himself he twice made an attempt to normalize ties with Turkey, and his predecessors made their attempts before. The president stressed Armenia had declared its intention to establish diplomatic ties with Turkey without any preconditions. After that, the sides could have discussed and found solutions to all problems between them, the president said.
Some reconciliation in the relations started in autumn 2008 initiated by Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan. Foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey signed protocols about establishing diplomatic relations in Zurich on October 10 2009 to be ratified by the parliaments.
On April 22 2010 Armenia’s president Sargsyan suspended the ratification process saying the political majority in the National Assembly considered statements from the Turkish side unacceptable, “specifically those by Prime Minister Erdogan, who has again made the ratification of the Armenia-Turkey protocols by the Turkish parliament directly dependent on a resolution over Nagorno-Karabakh.”
The second attempt, Sargsyan said, was made on the eve of the genocide centenary, when a letter was sent to the president of Turkey. The letter was delivered in person by the foreign minister to the appropriate Turkish officials, so it was not just a publicized action, Sargsyan said.
“By that letter I invited him to participate in the April 24th events and to jointly commemorate all victims. But the Turkish authorities decided otherwise. They decided to hold on April 24th – our genocide remembrance day –celebrations for the Gallipoli battle,” Sargsyan said.
The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth century. According to Armenian and many other historians, up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed starting in 1915 in a systematic campaign by the government of Turkey. 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, 43 U.S. states. It was recognized also by the Vatican, the European Parliament, the World Council of Churches and other international organizations. –0--
