LEADER OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF ARMENIA: H.RES.252 ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO SHARE THE DESTINY OF H.RES.106
ArmInfo
2010-03-05 15:19:00
ArmInfo. One should not doubt at all that H.Res. 252 on the Armenian
Genocide affirmed by the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs will
share the destiny of H.Res.106 affirmed by the same Committee in 2007,
Leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia Aram Sargsyan told ArmInfo
correspondent.
"I think the new pro-Armenian resolution will not be submitted for
general consideration of the Congress as the US Administration’s
position on this issue is direct evidence of that. This is a position
that proceeds from conformist political reasons, not universal
principles. I myself am amazed at the fact that being advocates of
human rights in the world, the United States have put aside their
principles and now proceed only from foreign political reasons",-
he said.
Sargsyan pointed out that the 22 Congressmen, who voted "against"
the resolution, recognized the fact of the Armenian Genocide at the
same time and expressed their regret for this fact. At the same time,
their only argument in favor of their decision was that "it is not
time yet" and let the parties themselves solve their problems. "This
is not our problem, this is not the problem of Armenia, Genocide
is the problem of everybody, that is, the American society should
discuss this fact and take a decision independently. And we should
cease asking them to recognize this fact",- he said.
Aram Sargsyan thinks that the position of the current leadership of
Turkey proves that the Justice and Development Party members are not
ready to revise their attitude to history and continue identifying
themselves as Young Turks. For instance, on behalf of the German
people, the great German politician Willy Brandt begged the Jewish
people’s pardon. Thus, having condemned the crimes of Nazism, German
people automatically gave up identification with the Nazis and are
currently considered to be one of the highly developed and intellectual
nations, Sargsyan said.
"Therefore, I want to calm down some of our politicians stating that
modern Turks are not the Turks that extirpated Armenians in 1915-1923.
In our time, we suggested creating diplomatic missions of Turkey and
Armenia, which would draw up a memorandum and describe their mutual
claims there. In its turn, this would allow creating mechanisms for
their settlement, as the nulling of problems with neighbors against
the background of denial of the Armenian Genocide is not a settlement
of the problem. The problem exists and it should be settled",-
he stressed.
On March 4 2010 the House Committee on Foreign Affairs affirmed House
Resolution 252, or the non- binding Armenian Genocide Resolution, that
calls upon the President to recognize the death of 1.5 million ethnic
Armenians as genocide in his annual remembrance on April 24. The
committee split 23 yes votes to 22 no votes. For final adoption,
the resolution requires approval by the House of Representatives. No
approval by the Senate or the President is required. Earlier Turkish
Parliament addressed a letter to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
saying that affirmation of the Resolution may impede the Armenian-
Turkish normalization.