AMERICA CHANGES ITS ATTITUDES
Gevorg Haroutyunyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on Aug 05, 2008
Armenia

Interview with KIRO MANOYAN, person in charge of the ‘Hay Dat’ and
Political Affairs Office of the ARFD Bureau

"Finally, Maria Jovanovich has been confirmed as the new US Ambassador
to Armenia. What are your comments in this regard?"

"The approval of the new Ambassador’s candidacy by the Senate is
itself an interesting fact, as this is the consequence of an important
event. The thing is that there were senators who, till the last moment,
were ready to impede or freeze the approval of this candidacy as well.

Their posture changed after the State Secretariat addressed two written
statements to the Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate.

Turkey is just beginning to touch upon these declarations, because
they slipped the their attention then.

In one of the statements the United States considers Turkey
responsible for what happened in Ottoman Turkey at the beginning of
last century. Up to this moment, it was mentioned in all the cases
that the massacres and annihilations were committed in the territory
of the Ottoman Empire, but it wasn’t clarified who was responsible
for that. Now, it is mentioned that everything was carried out by
the efforts of the soldiers and officials of the Empire.

In the second statement, the State Secretariat also made it clear
that the initiative of setting up a committee with the involvement of
Armenian and Turkish archivists does not anyhow question the facts
but rather, ensures guarantees for maintaining all the archives in
the most proper form.

These two changes in the attitude of the US administrations,
particularly the State Secretariat, led the Senators to approve Maria
Jovanovich’s candidacy."

"Can this change anything in the United States’ attitude towards the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide?"

"I think the posture of the United States has changed essentially. If,
by saying Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, former candidate Hoagland
believed that both parties should put up with their past and have a
dialogue, Maria Jovanovich definitely claims that it is Turkey that
has to put up with its past.

Clearly, these changes are not accounted for by individual
approaches; they result from the change in the attitude of the State
Secretariat. From this point of view, I believe that the day when
the Armenian Genocide will be recognized by the US President is not
far from this moment."

"What about the prospect of President Gyul’s responding to Serge
Sargsyan’s invitation and the two Presidents’ watching the football
match of their national teams?"

"I deem it necessary to affirm one’s again that the invitation
does not imply any changes in Armenia’s policy in the sphere of the
international re cognition of the Armenian Genocide. Both the statement
of the President and the negotiations held in Switzerland between the
Armenian and Turkish delegations are attempts of recording a success
in the two countries’ relations.

Whereas the invitation, as well as the proposal on setting up an
Armenian-Turkish committee created an impression that the fact of
the Genocide is called into question. This too, was refuted by Serge
Sargsyan’s article published in ‘Wall Street Journal’, as well as by
the statements of senior officials.

It became clear that the President made a proposal on setting up
a joint committee for discussing any issue only after opening the
Armenian-Turkish border and establishing diplomatic ties. As to the
committee of historians, it will not only to discuss the fact of the
Genocide but also restore the details of the crime."