ACCORDING TO , ARMENIANS, JUST AS BULGARIANS, SHOULD DEMAND COMPENSATION FROM TURKEY

NoyanTapan
Jan 14, 2010

CYPRUS, JANUARY 14, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Bojidar Dimitrov,
Bulgaria’s Minister in charge of the Agency for Bulgarians Abroad,
stirred a hornet’s nest at the start of the new year by threatening
to block Turkey’s accession to the European Union (EU), unless it
paid billions of dollars in compensation for Bulgarians who were
forcefully displaced during the Ottoman era. "Turkey is surely able to
pay this sum, as it’s the 16th largest economic power in the world,"
said Dimitrov. Dimitrov disclosed that the payment of compensation as
required by the 1925 treaty is one of Bulgaria’s three pre-conditions
in order not to veto Turkey’s admission to the EU. Bulgaria’s Deputy
Foreign Minister Marin Raykov sought to downplay Dimitrov’s demands
by stating that his country did not make Turkey’s EU bid conditional
on the resolution of the compensation issue for displaced persons.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Borissov rebuked Dimitrov, threatening to
fire him should he make a similar statement in the future without first
consulting him. Before that Vaselin Ninov, a Bulgarian government
spokesman, had confirmed that Dimitrov’s announcement represented
official state policy and for that reason he was fired.

According to the website the only wrinkle
to Turkey’s bid for EU membership isn’t Bulgury but some European
countries such as France, Germany, Holland, and Austria strongly
oppose Turkey’s EU membership bid. However, Turkey’s record on winning
lawsuits in the ECHR is not very good. Encouraged by these successful
lawsuits, Armenians living in Turkey and throughout Europe should seek
legal redress for their countless losses suffered during the Genocide.