ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS "DEAD," ARF REP STATES

news.am
April 19 2010
Armenia

The only way out of the present situation for Armenia is to
withdraw its signature put to the Armenian-Turkish protocols,
Vahan Hovhannisyan, Board member, Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun) (ARF(D)), told a press conference on April 19.

He stressed that the Armenian-Turkish protocols "died long ago or
are on the point of dying." According to Hovhannisyan, the protocols
are against Armenia’s interest and should be done away with. "This,
however, does not mean we should put an end to end to our dialogue
with Turkey, but the talks must not be conducted on the basis of
documents that run counter to our interests," he said. Hovhannisyan
pointed out that Turkey entered into a dialogue with Armenia taking
advantage of the panic within the Armenian ruling circles during the
Russian-Georgian war, as well a of the grave economic situation. He
also asked about the "reasonable time frame" indicated by the
authorities, when Armenia will withdraw its signature. As to what
will happen should Yerevan be the first to ratify the protocols,
Hovhannisyan said: "Armenia will prove a complete failure then."

Commenting on RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Washington,
Hovhannisyan stressed that, despite the expectations, the visit did
not answer the questions concerning the possibility of the U.S.

recognizing the Armenian Genocide. "Serzh Sargsyan’s meetings in
Washington left numerous questions open, but his visit can generally
be regarded as positive," Hovhannisyan said.

As regards the expectations from the Sargsyan-Medvedev meeting to
be held in Moscow on April 20, he said: "I find it difficult to make
any specific statements, but I can tell about my impressions of the
international conference in Saint Petersburg with the participation
of PACE President Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu, who arrived in the ‘northern
capital’ accompanied by a rather large delegation, with many Turks
among its members. The delegation even included a representative of the
so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is not actually
on the world map. At the conference I had the impression that Russian
representative were not, to put it mildly, supportive of the Armenian
delegates’ approaches. The situation reached the point when the Russian
representative that chaired the conference interrupted me by stating
my speech was not in line with the agenda. I responded and stated that
it is not only Georgia and Saakashvili that must be on the agenda."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress