Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
April 25 2005

President Kocharian: 1915 Responsible for Our Economic and Spiritual
Problems

The ceremonies in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of what the
Armenians claim was a genocide in 1915 commenced in Yerevan on
Saturday evening with a march, and continued on until Sunday morning,
when wreaths were placed at a statue to Armenians who died in 1915.
It was hoped that half of Armenia’s population, or 1.5 million
people, would gather in the streets for Saturday evening’s march.

According to members of the foreign press corps present however, the
marchers numbered somewhere in the hundreds of thousands. In a speech
at the march, Armenian President Robert Kocharian said “Turkey,
responsible for the genocide, has surprised not only us, but the rest
of the world, with its refusal to recognize and take responsibility
for the genocide.”

Kocharian blamed the events of 1915 for Armenia’s current financial
situation, saying “The genocide altered the fate of the Armenian
people. Rather than developing normally, Armenia’s financial and
spiritual road was disrupted.”

Dr. Nilgun Gulcan from ISRO finds Kocharian’s statement as a ‘part of
domestic politics’.

“A president cannot balme foreign forces for everything goes wrong.
He as the leader of Armenia for almost a decade should be responsible
for someting. Yet he prefers the easiest way: He blames the Turks to
curtail all the problems Armenians face. However the real responsible
for the economic problems of Armenia is the current Armenian
administration. The source of the Armenian spiritual problems is the
Armenian Diaspora. Ter-Petrosyan knew that the Turks and Turkey could
help Armenia to survive. Thus he tried to close two nations.
Kocharian on the other hand is now on the wrong way. He just accuses.
The Diaspora just tries to harm Turkish interests. Nobody accept his
or her responsibility” added Dr. Gulcan.

Protests All Over

At the same time, ceremonies commemorating the Armenians’ day took
place in many European capital cities. Armenians living in Iran
gathered in front of a church in Tehran and shouted slogans against
Turkey. In Athens, Greek Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopolous spoke
at a meeting in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the
so-called genocide in the Atikkon Cinema.