RIGHT-WING ARMENIANS STAGE HUNGER STRIKE AGAINST TALKS

Hurriyet Daily News
Sept 16 2009
Turkey

Supporters of a nationalist Armenian party start a hunger strike
in Yerevan to protest the normalization talks between Turkey and
Armenia, demanding the resignation of the foreign minister. If the
necessary precautions are not taken, they will demand the resignation
of President Sarkisian as the next step, says one of the organizers

FOTOALTI: A nationalist Armenian woman holds a placard reading ‘No
concessions to the Turks,’ in a protest against the normalization
talks.

A right-wing Armenian party has launched a sit-in and hunger strike
in Yerevan in protest of the normalization talks between Turkey
and Armenia as the government plans to launch political talks on
establishing ties with Turkey after decades of hostility.

Nearly 50 members of the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation,
or Dashnaktsutyun, protesting outside the foreign ministry on Tuesday
said the protocols threatened Armenia’s national interests. They
demanded the resignation of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
due to his role in normalization talks.

Turkey and Armenia last month agreed on steps toward establishing
full diplomatic ties – a first for the neighbors. The countries will
hold six weeks of domestic debate over the accords, which were drawn
up under Swiss mediation, before they are submitted for ratification
by their parliaments.

Settling a century of animosity between the two sides would help foster
stability in the southern Caucasus, through which Caspian oil flows
to European markets. It may also boost Turkey’s chances of achieving
European Union membership and improve predominantly Muslim Turkey’s
relationship with the United States, where Congress has considering
labeling the 1915 killings of Armenians as "genocide."

Armenia claims up to 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed
in 1915 under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey denies this,
saying that any deaths were the result of civil strife that erupted
when Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.

Turkey also closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
ally Azerbaijan over Yerevan’s backing of ethnic Armenian separatists
in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Committee offer

Chanting "No concessions to the Turks!" protesters said they
would remain outside the ministry throughout the six weeks of
consultations. Protesters said they were especially concerned that
the deal calls for the creation of an intergovernmental commission
to examine the two countries’ historical grievances.

The normalization protocols contain grave threats to Armenia’s national
interests, said Tatul Harutyunyan, one of the main organizers of the
hunger strikes, adding: "A historian committee offer will certainly
be the first pre-condition of the Turkish side. Nevertheless, we will
not allow Turkey to make the genocide issue a debate topic."

Turkey has long suggested that a committee of Turkish and Armenian
historians re-examine the events of 1915 and could open ways for
Turks and Armenians to come together by using archives in Turkey,
Armenia and other countries. But Armenian leadership has rejected
the overture, dismissing it as a political maneuver.

Demanding an apology

While giving implicit support to the normalization talks, Harutyunyan
said Turkey should give up denying the "genocide" and issue an official
apology. "We do want the resignation of Nalbandian because he is
the one who has signed the agreements with Turkey. If the necessary
precautions are not taken, we will demand the resignation of [Armenian
President Serge] Sarkisian in the next step," Harutyunyan told Hurriyet
Daily News & Economic Review.

Meanwhile, Sarkisian will meet with the leaders of Armenia’s political
parties on Thursday, his spokesman Samvel Farmanian said, as part of
internal consultations agreed upon under a deal with Turkey.

"These consultations will be one of the important steps in the public
discussion on normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations," he said. "As
the president has promised, these questions, which are of national
importance, are becoming the subject of a wide public discussion."

Nationalist Dashnaktsutyun left the coalition government in April
to protest the normalization talks. Sarkisian’s Republican Party, or
Hanrabedgan Gusagzsutyun, holds the majority in the parliament with
64 out of 131 seats. Harutyunyan predicted that the protocols would
not be approved in the Armenian parliament. "Like the all Armenians
across the country, the MPs of Hanrabedgan Gusagzsutyun are worried
about our national interests."

A nationalist Armenian girl holds a placard saying ‘No Concessions
to the Turks,’ in a protest against the normalization talks.