RUBEN SHUGARIAN: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IS A HISTORIC FACT AND ISN’T SUBJECT TO DISCUSSION
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 21 2006
ROME, MARCH 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The March 21 live
broadcast under the title “History” from the cycle of information
programs TG1 of RAI UNO Italian TV company was dedicated to the
“Armenian-Turkish Relations of the Past, Present and Future”. The
guests of the program were Armenian Ambassador to Italy Ruben
Shugarian and Turkish Ambassador to Italy Ugur Dziyal, as well as
Turkish historian Omer Turan. An occasion for the program became the
special issue of the RAI UNO TV channel in January 2006 dedicated to
the genocides of the 20th century, which started with the presentation
of the Armenian Genocide, against which the Turkish Ambassador sent
a written complaint to the Italian TV company. The program started
with Charles Aznavour’s interview to a journalist who has experienced
Oswiecim. Then, as Noyan Tapan was informed from RA Foreign Ministry
Press Service, the Turkish Ambassador blamed the Italian press
for a one-sided coverage of the Armenian Genocide asserting that
Turkey doesn’t carry on a policy of denial but only tries to jointly
search for the truth in archives suggesting that an Armenian-Turkish
commission of historians be founded for this purpose. Ruben Shugarian
in his turn began to assert that the interpretation of the issue
by Turkey has nothing in common with the point of view of not only
the Armenian side but also the world community, the majority of
which, including the Italian Parliament, has recognized the Armenian
Genocide. The Armenian Ambassador emphasized that the history can’t
be corrected or changed through censorship. The Armenian Genocide is
a historic fact and isn’t subject to discussion and the 6-million
Armenian Diaspora is the bright proof of this. “Can you imagine,
Shugarian emphasized, a commission consisting of Jewish and German
historians that is to decide, if there has been Oswiecim or not?”. In
this connection RA Ambassador reminded the last year letter of Armenian
President Robert Kocharian to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, in
which it was emphasized that development of bilateral relations is
the responsibility of the governments and we don’t have the right
to move this responsibility on the historians and we need to found
an intergovernmental commission for it, which will discuss and find
the respective solutions to these problems. Touching upon the current
relations between Armenia and Turkey, Ambassador Shugarian presented
Armenia’s readiness to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey
without any preconditions meanwhile mentioning that the borders’
being closed contradicts the European Union’s spirit. Documentary
stills and photographs were also shown in the course of the program.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
