SERGE SARGSYAN REVEALED

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15:47:25 – 30/09/2009

On September 30, in the frameworks of the Armenian and Turkish
discussions Serge Sargsyan met with the members of the Public
Council. In total, there were nearly hundred people. The chair of
the council Vazgen Manukyan thanked Serge Sargsyan for the meeting
and presented those worries which were shaped after discussions in
the Public Council on the Armenian and Turkish protocols. Worries
were linked to the economy, demographic issues, genocide issue and
the Karabakh issue as a precondition.

Hearing the speeches, which though expressing concern, were for the
current Armenian and Turkish process, Serge Sargsyan dwelt on all
the questions and answered. "If someone thinks that those documents
have to contain only our wishes, to tell the truth we have to be
realists it cannot be so because we are nor trying to normalize our
relations and go to become friends with Turkey but only we are trying
to shape a more or less stable atmosphere where the dialogue maybe
started. And there are people who say that this word is not written
well in the protocols and the Turks may comment on it otherwise I
am saying that we may comment on many points otherwise. Let someone
show me an international document composed of 4-5 point which cannot
be commented otherwise. We do not have the same thinking we have to
understand this", says Serge Sargsyan.

According to him, they are trying to say with the help of this step
that we cannot continue having such relations with Turkey and we have
to establish normal relations with it. "In order to establish normal
relations we have to start speaking. That is what I am saying. If
someone is against speaking, I will only respect that person if they
were against it 5, 10 or 15 years ago. But when you see that the aim
of those speaking is to collect point, this is already to be judged.

Serge Sargsyan says he does not understand the question on economy
and demographic issues. According to him, his communication with
enterprisers proves that enterprisers more highly assess the Armenian
economic interests than the border opening. "After, all this questions
are settled are settled by the law", notices Serge Sargsyan. As to the
demographic question so Serge Sargsyan thinks that in order to solve
this question we do not have to avoid relations with Turkey but we
have to build a just country where if "no ethnographic boom happens,
there will at least be wish".

Serge Sargsyan said the Armenian and Turkish relations are established
without preconditions. "Where did you see preconditions in the released
protocols? If it was so, it would be written in the protocols that
relations are established on preconditions. Yes, there are several
provisions in the protocols which are the result of compromises. Is
there not anything good for us in the protocols? There are opinions
which say that if these two points of the document were this way,
we would not have any problem. I assure everyone that there would
always be questions, even if these protocols were like the Turkish
capitulation. And second I do not rule out that we could get the
maximum. I do not exclude we could have a better document. But I am
sure that this is the maximum of our forces in this stage.

He also assured that Armenia is not going to stop the process on
the international recognition of the Armenian genocide. At the same
time, Serge Sargsyan did not exclude that the Armenian and Turkish
process will slow down the international recognition. But Armenia
will not be guilty but only those who being humanitarians accepting
that the genocide happened nevertheless will make the Armenian and
Turkish process an opportunity to justify the non-recognition of
genocide. Serge Sargsyan nevertheless thinks that arousing this issue
they enhanced the attention of the Turkish people towards the genocide.

"What is important for us? That other countries recognize the
genocide or serious processes take place in Turkey", says Serge
Sargsyan. Serge Sargsyan also said that he acknowledges very well
that the normalization of the Armenian and Turkish relations needs a
price and he is ready to pay that price, and after we will see what
is more what Armenia got or lost.

After Serge Sargsyan’s speech, Vazgen Manukyan thanked him for the
meeting, wished success for the pan-Armenian trip, and said sorry
that Serge Sargsyan is not a public council member because in this
case he would be able to raise his question and give full answers.