PRESENT-DAY ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER ILLEGAL IN THE CONTEXT OF THE INTERNATIONAL LAW: ARMENIA HISTORIAN
ArmInfo
2009-05-27 16:15:00
The present-day Armenian-Turkish border is illegal in the context of
the International Law, Ashot Melkonyan, Director of History Institute
at the National Academy of Armenia, told media, Wednesday.
He is sure that there is a precondition to normalization of the
Armenian-Turkish relations though our leadership persuades the people
of the opposite. ‘The issue of recognition of Turkey’s territorial
integrity is in shadow, but still on agenda. The Moscow and Kars
treaties of 1921 signed by the Soviet Russia and Kemalist Turkey have
no force. These are illegal documents since none of those states was a
subject of the international law then. Now, we should not give force to
these documents. I hope our leadership will be wise enough not to go
on such step’, the historian said. Melkonyan is sure that if Armenia
does not recognize the conditions of the above treaties, Turkey may
resort to diplomatic tricks to force Armenia recognize its borders
under relevant resolutions of the UN recognizing the territorial
integrity of Turkey. ‘The USA has always had the map of Armenia and
Turkey drawn in 1920 by President Woodrow Wilson. No one has cancelled
that map yet, so it has no lost force’, the historian said.