ACCORDING TO HAROUTIUN ARAKELIAN, ARMENIA AND TURKEY SHOULD SOLVE ISSUE OF RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AT EUROPEAN COURT

NOYAN TAPAN
APRIL 16, 2009
YEREVAN

The Ramkavar-Azatakan Party of Armenia (RAPA) has always stated that
the current Turkish government is the continuer of the 1915 genocide,
RAPA Chairman Haroutiun Arakelian said in his interview to the Ararat
Strategic Center.

He said that in general genocides consist of three parts. The first,
according to the RAPA Chairman, is preparation, the second carrying
out, and the third is cleaning the traces for the crime not to be
disclosed. According to the RAPA Chairman, a film about the slaughters
allegedly organized by the Armenians was shown at Turkey’s schools on
the initiative of Turkey’s Ministry of Education, which is evidence
that the Turks are cleaning the traces of the crime committed by
their forefathers.

H. Arakelian also touched upon Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s
statement, according to which Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s positions on
the Nagorno Karabakh problem completely coincide. In response to the
question of whether after that statement Armenia should continue its
policy of rapprochement with Turkey the RAPA Chairman said that there
is no need to reconsider that policy. In his words, relations between
Armenia and Turkey should be good-neighborly, but simultaneously
Armenia should formulate its claim on the Armenian Genocide to
be introduced to the European Court. According to H. Arakelian, as
the two neighboring states have chosen European integration as their
political course, they should find in Europe answers to the questions
they are concerned with.

In response to the question of how he assesses RA Prime Minister’s
invitation to Turkey to take part in the construction of a new
newclear power plant in Armenia H. Arakelian said that he considers
it a "statement of a person, who is politically incompetent." In his
words, we should not yield to the financial factor irrespective of
the fact who gives that finance.