HACHIKIAN TO SARKISIAN: HOW DARE YOU SQUANDER OUR POLITICAL CAPITAL?

5/hachikian-to-sarkisian-how-dare-you-squander-our -political-capital/
October 5, 2009

Below is the text of the comments made by ANCA chairman Ken Hachikian
during the Oct. 3 meeting with President Serge Sarkisian in New York.

Mr. President:

The Armenian National Committee of America stands with the overwhelming
majority of the Armenian American community in opposition to the
intense pressure by Turkey and its allies to force Armenia into
accepting a flawed and dangerous set of protocols that threaten the
security of Armenia, surrender the rights of the Armenian nation,
and insult the dignity of the Armenian people. Among the ANCA’s
primary concerns, in keeping with the basic American principles of
fairness and the enduring values of the Armenian nation, is that
Armenia, illegally blockaded by Turkey and under intense economic and
diplomatic pressure, is being forced into accepting terms that threaten
her interests, rights, safety, and future-very notably in the form of
a proposed "historical commission," whatever its composition turns
out to be. This provision, a tactic long pursued by Ankara to cast
doubt on the historical record of the Armenian Genocide, is clearly
intended to serve Turkey’s drive to roll back the growing tide of
international recognition of this crime against humanity. There can
be, as a matter of basic morality and political reality, no enduring
relationship between Armenia and Turkey that is not built upon the
foundation of Turkey’s acceptance of a true and just resolution with
respect to the Armenian Genocide.

Further, these protocols outrageously surrender the historical
rights of the Armenian nation to a just resolution of the Armenian
Genocide. They also dangerously undermine the right to freedom and
self-determination for the Nagorno Karabagh Republic.

Mr. President, your actions in pursuing these protocols are naive. They
are reckless. And they are simply irresponsible. Your assertion that
they do not contain any preconditions insults our intelligence. The
requirement for a commission of historians, which I might point out
has been soundly rejected by the International Association of Genocide
Scholars, the formal recognition of borders, and the acknowledgment
of territorial integrity without any mention of self-determination
are all preconditions imposed and insisted upon by Turkey, which
you have unwisely accepted at the point of their blackmail of the
closed borders.

These preconditions were and are requirements of Turkey; they are
the price you are willing to pay to the Turkish blackmailers. Many
countries readily normalize relations without such one-sided
preconditions.

How dare you accede to Turkish blackmail when our forbearers sacrificed
so much and suffered at the hands of the Turks, who to this very day
deny the Genocide which the rest of the world acknowledges?

How dare you attempt to squander the political capital that so many
have, at great sacrifice, built up over the decades in capitals around
the world? And make no mistake, signing the protocols would put at
risk that very capital. You have no moral right to do so. You have
no power to do so. And we will not allow you to do so.

You cannot take away the rights of our nation and our people simply
because you view yourself as the savior of our country. You are not
saving our country; you are relegating us to a subservient position
to Turkey while simply abandoning our rights to justice. Your efforts
are doomed to failure.

You will be remembered as the president who led our country to a
path of dependency, who foolishly bargained away our lands, whose
misjudgments led us to a weakened status. If you go forward with
these protocols, your legacy will be deeply flawed.

Do not attempt to hide behind the support of the minority who blindly
offer support for your initiatives.

They are not the true grassroots of the diaspora. They simply do not
represent the majority of the community. In the face of our vigilance
in confronting successive U.S. administrations over their blind and
unwavering support for Turkey, their default position is to support
these policies of the U.S. State Department. They are the same people
who surrendered Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, who supported
the disastrous Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission, and who
supported the nomination of Richard Hoagland, a morally reprehensible
genocide denier, to be ambassador to Armenia. They no longer have
political relevance in our community. Don’t be seduced by their
meaningless support.

Mr. President, you are making a grave mistake here. I hope you have
the wisdom to listen to your countrymen and to back away from this
disastrous agreement, before you bring great harm to our country,
to our people, and to your presidency.