CCAF ISSUES A STATEMENT ON ARMENIA-TURKEY PROTOCOLS
armradio.am
18.09.2009 14:50
CCAF (Coordination Council of Armenian organizations in France) issued
a statement in regard to the protocols between Armenia and Turkey,
free-lance correspondent Jean Eckian informs. The statement reads:
"On August 31, Armenia and Turkey under the mediation of Switzerland
promulgated two protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations
between the two countries. Yerevan and Ankara have a period of six
weeks before giving their final approval and then the documents will
be ratified by their parliaments. In this context the CCAF wishes to
clarify its position on major issues.
The Armenian Genocide is not negotiable and it could not be examined
by a sub-intergovernmental commission. History is already written, no
one can deny this fact acknowledged as genocide by historians, lawyers,
international institutions, and over 20 states, including France.
Moreover, genocide results in any moral, political and material
compensation. The CCAF is therefore requesting clarification on the
5th paragraph of the Protocol on establishing diplomatic relations
that the two countries, "affirm their mutual recognition of their
existing border as defined by relevant treaties in international law".
If the conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh is not quite rightly mentioned in
the "roadmap", its publication will coincide, once in force, with the
Armenian-Azerbaijani meetin g scheduled in mid-October in Moldova. In
this context, the point 3 of the Protocol should also be clarified.
The right to self-determination, the right to participate in the
political settlement of the conflict, ensured security, live peacefully
on their land directly should be clearly recognized to the Republic
of NK" connected to the Republic of Armenia.
We, French citizens of Armenian descent, have the right to expect
from the Turkish government an act in accordance with the courage of
the Turkish civil society that handles the question of the Armenian
genocide with responsibility. For the Armenian taboo to disappear
irreversibly in Turkey, we ask Ankara to stop its state denial and
to abrogate as soon as possible its repressive arsenal – 301 and
305 articles of the penal code – that threatens anyone who would
offend the dignity of Turkey by evoking publicly the genocide of the
Armenians. It is the Turkish government’s responsibility to adapt to
the message of its civil society willing to revisit its past and walk
in the direction of history.
The CCAF, in favour of a sincere Armenian-Turkish dialogue and of
the establishment of relations between Armenia and Turkey, also
asks Ankara to stop the blockade it has been exerting on Armenia
since 1993. Allowing the ratification of the "road map" before the
reopening of the border with Armenia is a precondition in rupture with
the principle of=2 0 a normalization without any condition. The duty
of memory in Turkey cannot be done by taking Armenia hostage. We have
been too long used to see the Turkish authorities using the slightest
occasion of opening to save time, to swallow up the Armenian issue and
dissuade the international community to recognize the genocide of 1915.
Finally, the CCAF reaffirms its attachment to the Armenia-Diaspora
strategic partnership and calls on all the components of the Armenian
nation to reinforce it."