HAYK DEMOYAN: ARMENIA SHOULD MAKE QUALITATIVE CHANGES IN STRATEGY OF ITS RELATIONS WITH DIASPORA

Noyan Tapan
Feb 3, 2010

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. As a result of the Armenian-Turkish
normalization process, some coldness is noticeable today not only in
Azerbaijan-Turkey relations, but also in Armenia-Diaspora relations.

Hayk Demoyan – Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute,
member of the body under the RA Minister of Diaspora – said this
at a February 1 press conference. According to him, the coldness in
Armenia-Diaspora relations can be temporary, but this necessitates
qualitative changes to be made by Armenia in its strategy. Having
personally communicated with Armenians in the Diaspora, H. Demoyan
felt that in some communities Armenia is perceived as part of the
Soviet Union, that is the old stereotypes are still being used. In
his opinion, Armenia can guarantee itself against possible challanges
in case of unity of Karabakh, Armenia and Diaspora factors.

He said that the Karabakh problem is one of "deadlock" problems,
especially in conditions of Azerbaijan’s tough position "either all,
or nothing". H. Demoyan believes that despite the "savage" propaganda
by Azerbaijan, resumption of any military operation in the region will
be short-term, there will be no trench wars because no superpower, no
force interested in peace in the region will tolerate this, while the
Azerbaijani army has no chance of reaching serious military success
in a short period of time.

H. Demoyan noted that if the Armenia-Turkey normalization process
collapses, this will happen not because of Armenia and the Armenian
side will not suffer any serious losses. In his words, in case of
failure in this process, Turkey will get a yellow card in the form
of international recognitions of the Armenian Genocide. H. Demoyan
underlined that within the framework of Armenia-Turkey normalization,
there are no talks and discussions related to the subcommission of
historians. He reminded that Armenia had stated that the historic fact
of the Armenian Genocide and the legal definition of the genocide
cannot be a subject of discussion. He said that for the Armenian
side, only the consequences of the genocide can be a subject of
discussion, in particular the issue of restoration of the Armenian
cultural heritage. "We also have the right to raise the problems of
compensation," he stated.

Turkey’s willingness to establish relations with Armenia stems from
its vulnerability in the near future, H. Demoyan said. Particularly,
in 15-20 years the energy needs of Turkey will grow by 30% and the
country will need safe routes of additional power-bearing sustances,
oil and gas, as well as alternative energy sources, while Armenia
can become such a source for Turkey. It became known from a press
publication about discussions held at the National Security Council
of Turkey that in 30-40 years ethnic Kurds will make up half of
Turkey’s population, which, according to H. Demoyan, may lead to three
developments: a federal state, genocide of Kurds, or formation of an
independent Kurdistan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress