TURKISH RECOGNITION OF GENOCIDE NOT A PRECONDITION FOR TIES – ARMENIAN PRESIDENT

ABC Newspaper
September 30, 2008
Spain

Text of interview with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan published
by the Spanish newspaper ABC website on 30 September:

Yerevan: Serzh Sargsyan, 53 and a native of Nagorno-Karabakh, was
elected president of Armenia in controversial elections held last
February. Until then, he had held the post of prime minister.

[ABC] How do you view the current situation in the Caucasus?

[Serzh Sargsyan] After 7 August – the date of the commencement of
the hostilities in South Ossetia – things have changed, the world
is different. It has become clear that interethnic conflicts cannot
be solved by force. We have been saying it for 20 years, but now it
has become patently clear. There is no alternative to diplomacy and
constructive regional cooperation.

[ABC] With the recent visit to Yerevan of Turkish President Abdullah
Gul a new outlook is opening up. What do you hope from it?

[Sargsyan] The normalization of contacts, the establishment of
diplomatic relations and the opening of the border. From that moment
on, it is then possible to speak about everything else. We are not
demanding the recognition of the genocide of 1915 as a prior condition.

[ABC] Turkey’s rapprochement with Armenia happens to come just after
the clash between Russia and Georgia.

[Sargsyan] I don’t think the two things are related. The work to
normalize relations was being done prior to that.

[ABC] You have good relations with Washington. The USA is the second
country, after Russia, with the largest Armenian diaspora. In view
of the current deterioration of relations between the White House
and the Kremlin, do you not fear having to choose between them?

[Sargsyan] I believe there is no dilemma between close cooperation
with Russia and the West.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress