"WORDS CONTRADICT ACTIONS"

A1Plus.am
02:37 pm | April 19, 2010 | Politics

Head of ARF faction Vahan Hovhannisyan notices some controversy in
Armenia’s stance towards the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation process.

"The words and actions of the Armenian side contradict each other. It
does not matter whether you surrender an acre or two. Once you cede
anything unilaterally, you become a loser," Mr. Hovhannisyan told a
press conference today.

On the one hand, Vahan Hovhannisyan reminded Serzh Sargsyan’s
speech at the tomb of Woodrow Wilson and the government’s decision
to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the Genocide; on the other
hand, he recalled the rejection of ARF proposals and draft laws by
parliamentary majority.

"They did everything possible to vote down our proposals and amendments
to the Law on International Agreements. We have been unable to
understand what they mean by saying "a reasonable timeframe."

Regarding the long-disputed Armenian-Turkish Protocols, Mr.
Hovhannisyan said," Turks "concocted" the document for two reasons.

Firstly, Turkey noticed that Armenian authorities were afraid of the
consequences of the Russian-Georgian conflict as the road was closed
down for a few days. Secondly, they saw that Armenian authorities
preferred personal interests to national ones."

"Initiating dialogue with Armenia, Turkey sought to split and weaken
our nation. And now it aims to split the Diaspora," said Mr.

Hovhannisyan and quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
words that Turkey is ready to host Diaspora representatives but not
those with rough stance, i.e. ARF.

Vahan Hovhannisyan is of the same opinion about the protocols.

"Armenia had better withdraw from the talks."

When asked what would happen if Armenia ratified the document before
Turkey, Mr. Hovhannisyan said, "It will be a disgrace to Armenia.

Turkey will not ratify the document unless the Karabakh conflict
is settled."