ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: TURKEY DOES NOT HAVE A MORAL RIGHT TO RAISE A PROBLEM OF ARMENIA’S REFUSAL FROM INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

arminfo
2007-12-19 23:24:00

ArmInfo. ‘Official Ankara puts three pre-conditions against us for
establishing of relations with Yerevan – recognition of the Turkish
borders by Armenia, settlement of the Karabakh conflict in favour of
Azerbaijan and refusal from international recognition of the Armenian
genocide of 1915’, – Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said
over the parliamentary hearings dedicated to the Armenian-Turkish
relations.

He also added that Turkey does not have a moral right to raise a
problem of Armenia’s refusal from international recognition of the
Armenian genocide.

Ankara saying of its aspiration to resolve the Karabakh conflict
peacefully, at the same time closes its border to Armenia. This
is nonsense, as such an approach is unacceptable in international
relations. Oskanyan recalled that over the last 16-17 years Turkey
twice lost its chance to contribute in normalizing and stabilizing
of the region and resolving of economic problems. First, it was
in 1991 when the USSR collapsed, and Russia was too weak to affect
the region. ‘That time Turkey could not contradict its ethnic and
political interests to strategic interests of the region. Secondly,
it happened in 2003 when they started the talks on Turkey’s joining
the European Union. Turkey had to explain to its people that for
joining the EU one should establish relations with its neighbours
and open the borders, but it did not happen, Oskanyan emphasized.