AAA LEADER: US WILL DO WHAT OTHERS HAVE DONE IN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

02.04.2005 03:50

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the issue of acknowledgement of the Armenian
Genocide the US will do what other countries have done some time or
later, Armenian Assembly of America Executive Director Ross Vartian
stated, the Milliyet Turkish newspaper reported. `France has
recognized the Genocide, however it did not damage the Turkish-French
relations at all,’ he added. He considered senseless the proposals to
submit the genocide issue for discussion, grounding it with the
historians having discussed it long ago and have come to a certain
conclusion. Answering the question that `genocide is merely the
problem of the Diaspora,’ Ross Vartian noted, `the acknowledgement of
the Genocide is one of priority tasks of Armenia’s foreign policy.

Some 1 million people visit the Memorial of the victims of the
Genocide victims April 24 each year ` this makes 1/3 of the population
of Armenia. We ` the Diaspora representatives ` are not hostile
towards the Turkish people.’ Answering the questions referring to the
territorial integrity of Turkey and the Armenian-Turkish relations,
Ross Vartian did not deny that the acknowledgement of the Genocide
will have certain consequences for Turkey. Simultaneously, he noted,
`however the definition of the consequences of the acknowledgement of
the Genocide does not concert the Diaspora. It is the affair of
Yerevan and Ankara. As of the land demands, the authorities of Armenia
have made an unilateral statement on respecting the territorial
integrity of Turkey.’ `Armenia and Turkey should be able to discuss
all problems available. It is necessary to open the borders. The
acknowledgement of the Genocide is not a precondition to settlement of
the relations between Yerevan and Ankara and it cannot be. The sound
dialogue is important. The Genocide will be recognized when the
Turkish people themselves want it and make the Turkish Government do
it, but not under pressure from the outside. Turkey is being gradually
reconstructed, challenges the history, otherwise Orhan Pamuk! would
ha ve not been able to make a public statement on the murder of 1
million Armenians,’ he stated.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress