YEREVAN MUST RELY OF ARMENIAN PEOPLE’S WISDOM, EXPERT SAYS

news.am
April 21 2010
Armenia

In the complicated geopolitical situation Armenia has found itself in,
official Yerevan must find ways out relying on the Armenian people’s
wisdom, Vladimir Zharikhin, Deputy Director of the Institute of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) stated during a Yerevan-Moscow
space bridge on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide in Ottoman Turkey.

In making decisions the Armenian authorities must consider the
Armenian citizens’ interests, as the Diaspora often "absolutizes"
its approaches to numerous issues to the detriment of the country
they are not nationals of. The expert stressed that constructive
approaches to numerous foreign policy issues create preconditions
for the further development of Armenian statehood.

As regards the reasons for Turkey’s unwillingness to admit the
Armenian Genocide, Zharikhin pointed out that official Ankara is thus
trying to secure itself against possible material and territorial
responsibility. "Turkey is afraid of the precedent, the recognition of
the Jewish Holocaust, but, probably, an international commission has
to be formed to settle the issues in case Turkey admits the Armenian
Genocide, laying emphasis on the fact that the admission of the
Holocaust and further consequences for Germany should be considered
an exception, without serving as a precedent for many similar cases,"
Zharikhin said.