ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI, TURKISH DELEGATES CROSS SWORDS AT ROSE ROTH SEMINAR

ITAR-TASS
March 12 2010
Russia

The process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide
– particularly the resolution approved by the U.S. House of
Representatives Committee on Foreign Affair and the one approved
by Swedish Parliament on March 11 – impede the ratification of the
Armenian-Turkish protocols, Suat Kiniklioglu, Vice-Chairman of the
Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, or AK),
stated at the NATO-held 73rd Rose Roth seminar in Yerevan.

"Such decisions will only lead to a collapse of the Armenian-Turkish
process," he said. Kiniklioglu stressed that, should the process fail,
the Armenian-Turkish relations will be even worse than before it, and
the situation in the region will grow increasingly tense. Kiniklioglu
stated Turkey does not set the issue of the Armenian Genocide as
a precondition for normalizing the bilateral relations. However,
the issue, as well as the international recognition of the Armenian
Genocide, complicates the ratification of the protocols. Even if
Recep Erdogan gathered the Justice and Development faction and told
them to vote for the protocols, it would not happen because of the
political atmosphere, Kiniklioglu said. "I cannot understand the
reason for Armenia setting artificial terms – Yerevan used to state
the protocols were to be ratified before this January, but now they
are speaking of April. They used to say Armenia would withdraw its
signature unless Turkey ratified the protocols before this January,
but they never did that. Turkey will not have ratified the protocols
by the April either, and let us see what Yerevan does this time. The
Armenian-Turkish border has been closed for 17 years, and we can wait
for one year more," the Turkish MP said. He asked why Armenia does
not want the issue of the Genocide to be discussed by a subcommittee
of historians to be set up after the protocols have been ratified. "If
Armenians are so sure they are right, let them, together with Turkish
scholars, prove they are right. If they succeed, the decision will
be binding on Ankara," Kiniklioglu said.

The Azeri expert Ilgar Mamadov supported the Turkish MP by stating
that "it is unclear what Yerevan is giving in the Armenian-Turkish
process after the Armenian Constitutional Court returned its verdict
concerning the protocols." "Any talks are a bargain — each party gives
something in exchange. But, after the Constitution Court returned
its verdict, it is now unclear what Armenia is going to give," the
Azerbaijani delegate said with indignation. According to him, Armenia’s
readiness to renounce its claims on Turkish territories and, party,
its policy of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide –
"a conviction, rather than historical reality" — was clear before the
RA Constitutional Court returned its verdict. "But the Constitutional
Court’s verdict showed Armenia has no intention to renounce anything,"
Mamadov stated angrily.

Head of the Armenian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary
Assembly Karen Avagyan tried to calm down the Azerbaijani and
Turkish delegates. He stated that Armenia has never intended to
discuss the Armenian Genocide in any committee – the Genocide is
a historical fact. "Moreover, I cannot understand why Turkey hoped
the Armenian-Turkish talks would stop the process of international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. On the contrary, the talks
stirred up the international community’s interest in Armenian-Turkish
problems, and the world began examining historical facts more closely,"
Avagyan said.

The seminar organizers brought documentaries telling about the
Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey in 1915-1923, as well as about
acts of vandalism against Armenian cultural heritage in Nakhchevan.