RICHARD HOVHANNISYAN EXPECTS A HARSH SPEECH WITHOUT THE WORD GENOCIDE
Nvard Davtyan
"Radiolur"
22.04.2009 18:06
UCLA Professor Richard Hovhannisyan told a press conference today that
like the previous years, the pressure on the President of the United
States has considerably grown in April. He hopes Barack Obama will
fulfill his pre-election pledge and will come forth with a stronger
speech on April 24.
Richard Hovhannisyan does not doubt that the pressures from the
Pentagon, Turkey and Armenia have increased ahead of April 24. The
Turkish Government now understands that the dialogue with Armenia
may be endangered if the US recognizes the Armenian Genocide. On the
other hand, Turkey applies an economic pressure: Turkey is a large
consumer of American weapons. There is also the factor of Iraq. Turkey
may refuse to provide its airspace to American planes.
"Turkey is very flexible. It can declare any moment that it’s a
member of the Islamic, Asian or African world, or it can declare it
belongs to Europe. They have an easy way to escape, saying that they
wanted to normalize the relations, but Armenians did not make any
concessions. This is a primitive policy, but sometimes it works,"
Richard Hovhannisyan said.
The Professor does not understand or is not aware of Armenia’s
policy in its relations with Turkey. According to him, the Armenian
President’s initiative of inviti ng the Turkish President to Armenia
was a daring and amazing step, but he would like to see a program
behind it. "I don’t know about the secret programs, but I hope they
exist. We often start on a journey without programs. For example,
let’s say Turkey recognizes the genocide. What are we going to demand
afterwards? Some Armenians say let Turkey simply accept the history,
others speak about the return of the lands of their ancestors. We
have no common national plan."
Professor Hovhannisyan hopes that on April 24 the US President will
fulfill the promise to Armenians. "If Obama uttered the word genocide,
it would be a great moral victory for Armenia. It would pave the way
for many countries to recognize the genocide, thus increasing the
pressure on Turkey," Mr. Hovhannisyan said.
The historian disagrees with the opinion that the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide by Obama will mean the end of the Armenian
Diaspora. On the contrary, the human and financial potential will be
directed towards the development of the Armenian culture. "We cannot
live only morning the crimes of the past," the historian says.
"Even if Obama fails to recognize the genocide on April 24, it won’t
be a tragedy. We have struggled for years and we will continue the
struggle.
At last, the historical fact has already been proven. The problem is
only a political one," Richard Hovhannisyan concluded.