HRANT MARGARIAN: IT IS UNACCEPTABLE TO US THAT ARMENIA SHOULD YIELD BEFORE PRECONDITIONS TO HAVE BORDER OPENED
Yerkir
23.10.2008 17:02
Yerevan (Yerkir) – ARF Bureau representative Hrant Margarian, who
was in Tehran on a three-day visit, spoke on October 22 at the Nairi
Union hall.
His speech referred to two key issues: the domestic tension and the
foreign relations, spoke about the regional situation. He said that
after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a one-polar world emerged and
the West tried to enter this region via various methods, including
the colored revolutions.
The West was trying to do the same thing in Armenia too during the past
presidential election. He also covered the recent events in Georgia,
ARF’s participation in the ruling coalition, the Artsakh conflict,
the Javakhk situation and the Armenian-Turkish relations.
He said: "The Armenian-Turkish border was open until 1993, and Turkey,
after closing it, put forward three preconditions: withdrawal of the
Armenian forces from Azerbaijan; shelving of the Armenian genocide
issue in the international arena; recognition of Turkey’s borders
by Armenia." He added that the Armenian authorities were always for
opening the border without preconditions.
"It is unacceptable to us that Armenia should yield before
preconditions to have the border opened, any concession at the
expense of generations is unacceptable to us, it is unacceptable to
us for Turkey to assume brokering role in the Armenian-Azerbaijani
relations or in the Karabakh issue. It is unacceptable to us that
join the Caucasus project proposed by Turkey without Iran because we
believe that such an alliance would be one-sided without Iran."