ARMENIAN CONSTITUTION DOES NOT LAY TERRITORIAL CLAIMS TO TURKEY
Lragir
Oct 31 2007
Armenia
The Armenian Constitution does not lay territorial claims to Turkey,
says Ruben Safrastyan, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies
of the National Academy of Science, who commented on the Tuesday
statements of the Turkish ambassador to Russia.
The Turkish ambassador Kurtulush Tashkent stated that Yerevan should
reject its territorial claims to set up diplomatic relations between
Turkey and Armenia.
"The statement of the diplomat is not news, it is the stance of the
Turkish elite. However, the problem is that there are no territorial
claims to Turkey in neither the Declaration of Independence nor
the Constitution of Armenia," Safrastyan said in an interview with
News Armenia.
The expert thinks the Turkish ambassador most probably means the
provision of the Declaration of Independence that Armenia must pursue
the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman
Empire and West Armenia. In addition, the introduction of the Basic
Law runs that the Armenian people adopted the Constitution on the
basis of the basic principles and national aims set down in the
Declaration of Independence of Armenia.
"The Turkish propaganda and political circles have claimed over the
past 15 years that the phrase West Armenia supposes territorial claims,
which is groundless," Safrastyan says.
According to him, Armenia has never laid territorial claims to Turkey,
neither in the past nor during the office of Robert Kocharyan.
He is skeptical about the statement of the Turkish diplomat that
Turkey is open to cooperation with Armenia, and evidence to it is the
fact that Armenia sends 100 flights via Turkey. "The air corridor is
hardly a sign of special attitude toward Armenia. Neighboring states
provide air corridor to one another. It is an international practice,
and it is not something Turkey can boast of," the expert says.