DIARIO ARMENIA: SECOND PROTOCOL DISGRACEFULLY ABSURD

news.am
Nov 2 2009
Armenia

It is difficult to understand some individuals that decided to
consign to oblivion the Armenia people’s greatest tragedy, the
analyst Juan Gabriel Tokatlian says in an article published by Diario
Armenia. What is going on is not a usual thing, and the Armenian
Government’s position on the Genocide committed by Turks from 1915
to 1923 deserves a special analysis.

In this context he singles out negatives and positive premises. Among
the negative ones are the intellectual decline of the ancient people,
opportunistic policy and a potential new traumatic experience. Among
positive premises is the normal wish to get over the tragedy and
reach a true reconciliation of the nations. All the aforementioned
arguments are conducive to the historical facts passing into oblivion.

This unusual situation teaches lessons. Two-year "tactful"
negotiations through Swiss mediation were followed by the signing
of two Armenian-Turkish protocols. The first of them, which deals
with the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, can be
improved and pit into practice. No doubt, the two nations have to
improve their relations sooner or later. The second protocol, which
provides for a scientific study of historical facts and archives by
means of an intergovernmental commission, is unacceptable. The only
historical aspect is the undeniable fact of the Armenian Genocide,
which is common knowledge. It would be tantamount to calling the Jewish
Holocaust into question. This is great regress for the Armenian Cause.

This step does not heal the wounds. We can ask: do we have to prove the
events foreign diplomats, doctors, clergymen, and observers have proved
by having collected numerous facts, pictures, and documentaries? They
are ubiquitous, but the West never properly responded.

The Armenian Diaspora has always been supportive of the Armenian
Government in this matter. The Armenian Genocide has always been of
social, rather than state, nature for the Armenians It has always
been obvious that defending the fact of the Armenian Genocide is
immediately connected with Armenia’s destiny. In this respect, the
second Armenian-Turkish protocol is disgracefully absurd. Not only
does Turkey refuse to admit the Armenian Genocide, but the Armenian
Government is calling the fact into question by its actions, writes
Gabriel Tokatlian.