ARF TO CONTINUE AS PART OF OPPOSITION
news.am
April 14 2010
Armenia
The meeting between RA President Serzh Sargsyan and Turkish Premier
Recep Erdogan once more proved that Turkey and Azerbaijan not only
display a unanimous approach to everything, but are actually one state,
Hrair Karapetyan, the Chairman of the Committee on Defense, National
Security and Internal Affairs and member of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) (ARF(D)), told a press conference.
According to him, at the Washington meeting the sides reaffirmed
their positions – the RA President reaffirmed Armenia’s commitment to
establishing relations with Turkey without any preconditions, as well
as the impossibility of linking the Armenian-Turkish process to the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. As regards the Turkish Premier, he set
preconditions to the ratification of the Armenian-Turkish protocols,
linking it to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and the issue of
Armenian Genocide. "The international community, first of all U.S.
President Barack Obama, must draw necessary conclusions from the
Sargsyan-Erdogan meeting in Washington and come to realize that
Turkey will not give up its position," Karapetyan said. He pointed
out that, with this position considered, Armenia and the Armenian
Diaspora must be more firmly united. In this context he welcomed the
Armenian leader’s speech at the Washington National Cathedral, when he
ruled out any split between Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora. "The
Armenian President’s speech was based on the principles incorporated
in the national security concept," Karapetyan said.
As regard the possibility of the ARF changing its attitude to the
authorities due to the Armenian leader’s speeches, Karapetyan stated:
"The ARF will continue as part of the opposition camp, as the party
is discontent with not only the Armenian authorities’ foreign policy,
but also domestic and socio-economic policies."