HAYK BABUKHANYAN: TURKISH ELITE STILL HAS GENOCIDAL MENTALITY
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.03.2010 19:18 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ US House Foreign Affairs Committee passage of
H.Res. 252, as well as Swedish parliament’s recognition of Armenian
Genocide, proved RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s initiative policy
effective, Constitutional Right Union party leader Hayk Babukhanyan
stated.
As he told a news conference in Yerevan, currently Turkey fails to
demonstrate constructive approach in rapprochement process, yet there
is a possibility for it to ratify Protocols before April 24. "Turkey
has to understand that refusal to acknowledge the Genocide will
be used against it. Year after year, more countries recognize the
Armenian Genocide. Turkey can’t keep recalling its ambassadors from
all over the world," he emphasized.
Babukhanyan urged Armenian authorities to exercise vigilance while
normalizing ties with Turkey, as Turkish elite still has genocidal
mentality. "Until Turkey recognizes the Genocide, it will be considered
a hostile state in Armenia," Constitutional Right Union party leader
stated.
Hayk Babukhanyan expressed his disagreement over the statement
of President Emeritus Goran Lennmarker on Azerbaijan being more
interested in Karabakh conflict settlement so as Azeri refugees
could return to their homes. "Armenian Foreign Ministry is to blame
for allowing such views, never having raised the issue of Armenian
refugees’ return during negotiations," he stressed.
The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation. On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional
Court of the Republic of Armenia found the protocols conformable to
the country’s Organic Law.
The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic
destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during
and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and
deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to
lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths
reaching 1.5 million.
The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the
Genocide survivors.
To date, twenty countries and 44 U.S. states have officially recognized
the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide scholars and
historians accept this view.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict broke out back in 1991, when, subsequent
to the demand for self-determination of the Nagorno-Karabakh people,
Azerbaijani authorities attempted to resolve the issue through ethnic
cleansings, carried out by Soviet security forces (KGB special units)
under the pretext of the implementation of the passport regime and by
launching of large-scale military operations, which left thousands dead
and caused considerable material damage. A cease-fire agreement was
established in 1994. Negotiations on the settlement of the conflict are
being conducted under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen
(Russia, USA, France) and on the basis of their Madrid proposals,
presented in November, 2007.
Azerbaijan has not yet implemented the 4 resolutions of the UN
Security Council adopted in 1993, by continuing to provoke arms race
in the region and openly violating on of the basic principles of the
international law non-use of force or threat of force.