RATIFICATION OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS TO PUT END TO INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, HERITAGE LEADER STATES

news.am
April 23 2010
Armenia

The ratification of the Armenian-Turkish protocols will put an end to
the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
Raffi Hovannisian, Chairman of the Heritage Party, told a press
conference.

He stressed that the statement RA President Serzh Sargsyan made
yesterday will, to a great extent, "unfetter" that Parliaments ready
to recognize the Armenian Genocide from the Armenian-Turkish process.

In any case, other states will recognize the Armenian Genocide in
their own interests, Hovhannisian said. As regards the possibility of
U.S. President Barack Obama’s uttering the word "genocide" during
his annual address to the Armenians, he stressed that he would
like to hear the U.S. leader utter the word. However it will never
return the lost homeland to Armenians. "Whether Obama will utter the
word genocide will reflect his attitude to the U.S. history, rather
than to the Armenians. U.S. archives contain thousands of documents
corroborating the fact of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey,"
said Hovhannisian.

He pointed out that it was in connection with the events in Ottoman
Turkey early in 20th century that Raphael Lemkin coined the term
"genocide."

Commenting on Armenian political circles’ proposals to lodge a
Genocide claim with the Hague Tribunal, Hovhannisian pointed out
it might be one of the options. "Yes, the Hague Tribunal might
return a relevant verdict, whereafter the Armenian side will have to
apply to Turkey for reparations and establishment of common border,
which would necessarily provide Armenia with an outlet to the sea,"
Hovhannisian said. He pointed out that the sides must first of all
admit the unappealableness of the Hague Tribunal’s verdicts.

As a descendent of Armenian Genocide survivors, Raffi Hovhannisian
remembers his grandparents every single day – they went through a
painful experience in Western Armenia.