DIRECTOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY RESEARCH INSTITUTE: NO REAL PROGRESS IN TURKEY’S RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE EXPECTED IN THE NEAR FUTURE
ArmInfo
2008-12-22 18:18:00
To all appearances, the Armenian Genocide will not be recognized
by Turkey in the near future due to the powerful oil lobby there at
least, Director of the Political Economy Research Institute Andranik
Tevanyan told ArmInfo corespondent when commenting on the apology
campaign initiated by Turkey.
"The official stance of Ankara stressed for several times is that it
will not open the border with Armenia until the Karabakh conflict is
settled in Azerbaijan’s favor. So, no real progress is most likely
expected in this issue in the near future",- the expert said.
He added that real discussion is currently being held in Turkey on the
issue that Turkey’s past should be "edited". "At the moment, there are
two conceptions in Turkey: liberal and fundamental. I think that only
liberal Turkey may recognize the Genocide, establish normal relations
with its neighbors and integrate into Europe. But on the other hand,
if Turkey becomes a liberal state, this may shake its foundations as
independent Kurdistan will be created, the Armenian Issue and many
other issues will arise. One can draw an analogy with the Soviet
Union as Turkey, like the Soviet Union, is a kind of empire. If
"their Gorbachyov" comes to power in Turkey and catalyzes all these
processes, Turkey may simply disappear. And if someone like Andropov
comes to power and the conception of the "steady hand" is established,
which doesn’t accept its past, Turkey will have to fight with the whole
West and may simply fail to stand this fight",- Tevanyan concluded.