LEVON TER-PETROSSYAN: BY GIVING HIS CONSENT TO CREATION OF A COMMISSION OF HISTORIANS SERZH SARGSYAN MADE AN UNFORGIVABLE MISTAKE

ArmInfo
2009-11-11 18:56:00

ArmInfo. By giving his consent to creation of an Armenian-Turkish
commission of historians, Serzh Sargsyan made an unforgivable mistake
and it will be impossible to ever correct its consequences, the first
president of Armenia, leader of the Armenian National Congress Levon
Ter-Petrossyan said at the ANC meeting, Wednesday.

According to him, for the ANC establishment of Armenian-Turkish
relations was and is not an ideological but political task, therefore
it is necessary to consider the signed Protocols politically like the
ANC did. Ter-Petrossyan stressed that from the viewpoint of the real
policy, the only inadmissible item in the Armenian-Turkish Protocols
is creation of the Armenian-Turkish commission of historians.

Ter-Petrossyan said that ANC attaches much significance to this
item for several reasons. "First, despite the Armenian authorities’
official statements, the main topic, if not the only one, of the
given commission will be the issue of the Armenian Genocide as
otherwise Turkey wouldn’t have considered its creation as its biggest
achievement. Second, this means that the fact of the Armenian Genocide
will be doubted and the process of its international recognition will
be suspended. We do not believe that the parliaments of the countries,
which recognized the Armenian Genocide, will declare their decision
invalid, but at the same time we don’t doubt that no more country will
recognize the Armenian Genocide. Third, creation of the commission
will deliver a strong moral and psychological blow on the Armenian
Diaspora",- Ter-Petrossyan said.

The ANC leader added that if this commission aims to contribute to
Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, it will unlikely be able to serve
its goal as, to all appearances, this will turn into an endless
discussion theatrical performance and deepen the discrepancies between
the two nations. "That is to say, regardless of creation of the
commission, after the settlement of the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict the
Armenian-Turkish relations would be normalized and the border would be
opened in any case",- Ter-Petrossyan said. He also pointed out that
unlike other political forces that started expressing their concern
mostly after Aug 31 publishing of the Protocols, ANC signalized this
long ago and many times. According to the first president of Armenia,
over the past 2 years he personally touched on this problem in his 7
statements, the first time was on 8 Dec 2007. "I suppose if the rest
of the political forces fixed ANC signals in their time, it would be
possible to prevent inclusion of this item in the Armenian-Turkish
Protocols",- Ter- Petrossyan concluded.