PRESIDENT SARGSYAN MEETS WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF MID-EAST ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES
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2009/10/07 | 12:49
Politics
President Serzh Sargsyan’s pan-Armenian trip continues throughout
the diaspora. On October 6 the delegation headed by President
Sargsyan arrived in Beirut where he had a meeting with more than 100
representatives of the Armenian communities and organizations of the
Middle East, Egypt, Iran and the Persian Gulf.
Before the meeting, President Sargsyan had a meeting with His Holiness
Aram I, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia. The two leaders
talked about the process of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish
relations and issues related to the pre-signed protocols.
The participants of the meeting in Beirut highly appreciated President
Sargsyan’s initiative of visiting Diaspora Armenian communities
to listen to the views Armenians on the normalization process and
the pre-signed documents, even though many had severe reservations
regarding concessions to Turkey.
"The artificial situation between Armenia and Turkey benefits neither
side. The establishment of diplomatic relations and the opening of
the border will provide an opportunity for creating a platform for
furthering the dialogue and the negotiations," President Sargsyan
said in his speech.
President Sargsyan referred to the main concerns connected with the
normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations. "We have stated many
times that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide is not just an
issue of restoration of justice, but also an important factor from
the perspective of security of Armenia and the Armenian people. It
is a necessity," Serzh Sargsyan noted.
Turning to the concern that Turkey could assume a role in the
settlement of the Artsakh issue, President Sargsyan noted: "The
Nagorno Karabakh conflict will be solved only when we see that we
have what we have been striving for ever since 1988."
President Sargsyan reiterated that the settlement of the Karabakh issue
and the normalization of the Armenia-Turkey relations are separate
issues, and this has been confirmed by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.