TURKISH HISTORIAN: IT’S NOT TRUE TO STATE THAT THE ARMENIAN DIASPORA DOES NOT WANT RELATIONS BETWEEN TURKEY AND ARMENIA NORMALIZED

ArmInfo
2010-03-03 20:17:00

ArmInfo. "It’s not true to state that the Armenian Diaspora does not
want relations between Turkey and Armenia normalized. The majority
wants relations to be normalized. The sticky issue is the subject
of 1915. Due to the vague language of the Protocol, the Diaspora
feared that the Armenian genocide was going to be made into an issue
of negotiation",- said Taner Akcam, a well-known Turkish historian,
in his interview with Turan.

"In fact, Turkey did make announcements that would lend strength to
that fear, such as the creation of a historian’s commission and the
idea that this commission would come to a decision on whether or not
the events of 1915 constituted genocide. It’s difficult to interpret
the articles of the Protocol as promoting anything like this, but
Turkey has stated countless times that it wishes to interpret it that
way",- said the historian.

Asked whether US President Obama can recognize the Armenian genocide
thus spoiling strategic relations with Turkey in April, the Turkish
historian replied: "I have no idea what the US will do this April
24th. Having the American Congress or the President declare what
happened in 1915 genocide is like a "golden bullet". The US possesses a
"gun that can only shoot once". Here’s the question: is it better to
shoot that bullet or to keep the gun loaded with it and use it as a
threat continuously? I believe the US has chosen the second option.

The US understands that this "gun" is good for only one shot and is
holding back because once the "bullet" has been released it loses
its power and meaning. For this reason, it seems that rather than
shooting off that "gun loaded with one bullet", it serves the US’s
purposes to use it as a threat every year.