AAA: Armenia Won’t Sacrifice Its Principles To Relations With Turkey

AAA: ARMENIA WON’T SACRIFICE ITS PRINCIPLES TO RELATIONS WITH TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.09.2008 14:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Serzh Sargsyan’s invitation and Abdullah Gul’s
arrival offered a possibility to open dialog between the two states,
said AAA Regional Director for Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

"Nevertheless, willingness to open a dialog doesn’t mean that Armenia
renounces the essence of its national security – recognition of the
Armenian Genocide. Turkey should have the courage to face its history,"
Arpi Vartanian told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. "Time is needed to
get the things moving. We live in the 21st century, when a country
can’t exist like an island in the region. We should live in peace
with neighbors. But, I do repeat, it doesn’t mean that Armenia is
ready to sacrifice its principles to establish relations with Turkey."

As to possible influence of the U.S. presidential election on
normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations, Ms. Vartanian said the
American constituency is concentrated on internal problems. "Candidates
Obama and McCain differ on the Armenian Genocide issue but their
opinions of Caucasus policy coincide," he said.