ARF TO LEAVE COALITION?

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06:12 pm | April 23, 2009 | Politics

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation released the following statement:

"Normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations has been a key issue on
Armenia’s state-political agenda for the past months. The Armenian
Revolutionary Federation has stated several times that the two
countries may establish friendly ties after Turkey’s recognition of
the Armenian Genocide and the restoration of the Armenian people’s
rights. The eradication of the blockade and establishment of diplomatic
relations without preconditions may be the first steps to be taken. The
normalization of relations with Turkey at the price of our independent
statehood and the state and national rights of our future generations
is absolutely unacceptable for us.

Staying true to these principles, we condemn the signing of the joint
statement made by Turkey and the Armenian Foreign Affairs Ministry
on April 22 and consider it unacceptable.

We believe that the signing of the document, which comes a day
before the tragic events of April 24, causes a blow to Armenia
and the interests of the Armenian people and comes amid the
recent anti-Armenian statements made by Turkish against leaders,
the statements regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the
preconditions set forth by Turkey.

Recording the fact that this process assumes a negative shift in
the course of Armenia’s foreign policy, the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation will soon discuss the issue of whether it is appropriate
for the party to remain in the coalition or not," as stated in the
statement.