RA FOREIGN MINISTER: RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IS NO PRECONDITION FOR GOOD-NEIGHBORLY RELATIONS BETWEEN TURKEY AND ARMENIA
AZG Armenian Daily
28/11/2006
"The recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey in 1915
is no precondition for good neighborly relations between Turkey and
Armenia", RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, said in the interview
to France-Presse.
Mr. Oskanian expressed confidence that the "interdiction may be
overcome by cooperation of the Armenian and Turkish people." He called
"dubious" the proposal of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
to shape a joint commission of scholars-historians to investigate
the events of 1915-1917 in the Ottoman Turkey. "No joint commission
can be shaped before diplomatic relations between official Ankara
and Yerevan are established. The question is a political one and it
should be considered from the relevant viewpoint. Turks have never
been so mobilized, on the state level, about the negation policy,
before," Mr. Oskanian emphasized. He added that Turkey’s aggression on
Armenian Genocide grows simultaneously with its recognition by other
countries. He emphasized that French Parliament’s adoption of the law
envisaging criminal prosecution for denial of the Armenian Genocide
was a "definite response to Turkish government’s policy of denial."
Mr. Oskanian said that at present, only the recognition of the Genocide
is the only issue in the agenda of Armenia’s foreign policy and that
nobody should fear about its demand for contribution. At the same
time, Ra Foreign Minister agreed that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
is quite a serious obstacle in Armenia’s relations with Turkey and
that "Ankara’s definite solidarity with Azerbaijan works against very
Turkey, because it risks the country’s credibility for undertaking
the role of the East-West bridge." Mr. Oskanian didn’t agree with
correlation of Nagorno-Karabakh and South Cyprus, as the first appeared
as a result of USSR’s collapse and the second occurred on the UN
member-state’s territory. He agreed that both Cyprus and Armenia see
obstacles in Turkey’s membership in EU but none of these countries
work against Turkey. "We do have common questions to discuss but we
do not unite against anyone", Vartan Oskanian underscored.