SARKSYAN: TURKEY HAS NO MORAL RIGHT TO BLAME US FOR ANYTHING

Today’s Zaman
March 22 2010
Turkey

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan has suggested that Turkey intended to
use foreign legislative bodies’ resolutions on the killing of Anatolian
Armenians as a "pretext" for stalling the ongoing normalization
process between Ankara and Yerevan.

During an official visit to Paris last week, Sarksyan was asked in
an interview with Euronews whether he believed that there was any
particular reason for the timing of a US House committee’s recognition
earlier this month of the killing of Anatolian Armenians during World
War I as genocide as it came amid reconciliation efforts between
Armenia and Turkey.

"We are currently in discussions with Turkey on the issue of
re-establishing our relations. This should be done without any
preconditions, and I think that Turkey has no moral right to blame us
about anything or to impose any conditions. Re-establishing relations
without preconditions means we are not under any obligations to
stay away from any of the possible topics," Sarksyan responded in
the interview, the transcript of which is on the Web site of Public
Radio of Armenia.

"Let’s say that, by some miracle, the Turkish Parliament ratifies the
protocols, the Armenian Parliament does the same, we re-establish our
relations and a third country, which is against us re-establishing our
relations, on purpose takes up the genocide issue. Will the Turks,
therefore, use this as a pretext and break off relations?" Sarksyan
added.