Sarkisian to Visit Diaspora to Muster Support For Protocols

sian-to-seek-diaspora-support-for-turkey-diplomacy /
By Asbarez Staff on Sep 24th

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-President Serzh Sarkisian said on Thursday that he
will tour major Armenian communities abroad early next month to
explain and promote his far-reaching diplomatic overtures to Turkey
which the Diaspora have been following with unease.

Sarkisian made the announcement as he met with His Holiness Karekin
II, the Catholicos of All Armenians at Echmiadzin. He said he will
start on October 1 a series of visits to Paris, New York, Los Angeles,
Beirut and Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

All of those cities and their surrounding areas have sizable Armenian
communities. Sarkisian was quoted by his press service as telling the
Catholicos that he wants to hear community leaders’ `views on the
process of the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations.’

Karekin II welcomed the initiative.

`The Diaspora is an important and inseparable part of our people and
it is only right for our Diaspora sons … to be able to hear answers
from you personally to questions preoccupying them,’ said Karakin II,
according to the presidential press service. `Also, you will expose
yourself to the thoughts, opinions and concerns of our Diaspora sons.’

Diaspora leaders have expressed serious concern about key points of
two Turkish-Armenian draft protocols envisaging the normalization of
bilateral relations. They are particularly critical of the planned
creation of a Turkish-Armenian panel of historians that would probe
the Genocide.

The Diaspora also opposes another protocol clause that commits Armenia
to recognizing its existing border with Turkey based on past relevant
treaties. This clause will preclude future Armenian claims to the
territories of historic Armenia illegally occupied by the Republic of
Turkey.

His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia added
his voice to those concerns in a letter to Sarkisian made public on
Thursday. `The ongoing developments in the establishment of diplomatic
relations between Armenia and Turkey have become a cause for serious
concern in the Diaspora,’ he wrote.

Aram I singled out the planned `sub-commission’ of historians for
criticism. He said its existence would make it easier for Ankara to
deny the Armenian Genocide.

Etchmiadzin has rarely challenged Yerevan governments and will likely
be more supportive of the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement. Karekin II
told Sarkisian that the church’s Supreme Spiritual Council will meet
soon to discuss and formulate its position on the issue.

The planned meetings will be part of `internal political
consultations’ which Ankara and Yerevan pledged to initiate before
signing the controversial protocols by mid-October. Sarkisian
described the intensifying debates on the matter as `very useful.’

`Of course, they have some emotional manifestations and elements,’
Sarkisain told Karekin II. `And it could not have been otherwise
because a huge segment of our people are a generation of persons
subjected to genocide. Besides, we have our shrines, our churches, our
[medieval] capital and the remnants of many, many people’s ancestral
homes across the [Turkish] border.’

`I do realize this because often times I myself internally struggling
with my emotions,’ added Sarkisian.