LEADERS OF ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES OF U.S. AND RUSSIA DO NOT UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER
Lragir, Armenia
Oct 15 2007
Apparently, the Union of Armenians of Russia is jealous about
the Resolution 106 adopted by the U.S. House Committee of Foreign
Affairs. At least, the political scientist Andranik Mihranyan who
is close with this union and its leader advised not to rush into
euphoria. Three days later the president of the Union of Armenians
of Rusia Ara Abrahamyan repeated Mihranyan in a news conference on
October 15 in Yerevan.
"First of all, we should not forget that the government of the United
States is Turkey’s strategic ally. We should not forget that the
United States is at war with Iraq, Afghanistan and is preparing for
a war or sanctions on Iran. Turkey is highly important to the United
States. We should not underestimate Turkey. I wish this issue were
solved. We should continue to hope, the Armenian government, all of
us should work nip and tuck," Ara Abrahamyan says.
According to him it is necessary to make sure what the second, the
third step following recognition will be. Ara Abrahamyan is obviously
dissatisfied that the Armenian organizations in the United States
prevented the World Congress of Armenians from setting up a branch in
the United States and becoming involved in the process of recognition
of the Genocide. "I arranged with the government of the United States,
I addressed Armenians in Los Angeles, 400-500 people, they asked me
questions, I answered them. I said the World Armenian Congress aims
to set up a branch in the United States to enable closer relations
between the two communities. Unfortunately, however, I don’t know
if you track the U.S. media, they said we have nothing to do there,
we had better not interfere with their activities. I disagree, I
generally disagree and I don’t want to say that their activities are
good or bad. If the issue is not solved, it means those are bad. We
have temporarily left aside this intention but it is highly important
for the World Congress of Armenians to set up a branch in the United
States," Ara Abrahamyan says.
His words may imply that if the World Armenian Congress dealt with
the issue of recognition of the Genocide in the United States, the
issue could have made considerable progress.
"You see, if I now say that we would succeed if we cooperated,
perhaps it would not be right but I can say, they gave me the
right to say, since they refuse to collaborate with us, I can say
if we collaborated, we would have succeeded. The problem is that
I have had dozens of meetings with all the Armenian organizations
of America. I have talked to them for dozens of times, I have said
that this organization wants to set up a branch, perhaps it does not
attack the interests of any other organization. This is quite another
organization which pursues one or two issues which are not sufficiently
addressed in the United States. And everyone I know, all the parties,
I will not list them, I met with the leaders of all of them. I met
with different U.S. government officials and discussed this issue,"
Ara Abrahamyan says.
"Vladimir Putin now, his stance on Armenia has always been positive,
he has good relations with the president of Armenia. They often meet.
If you track the developments, Putin meets with the president of the
Republic of Armenia more often than with any other president," stated
the president of the Union of Armenians of Russia Ara Abrahamyan on
October 15 in Yerevan with regard to the political future of Vladimir
Putin and Robert Kocharyan, namely the prospect of becoming prime
minister.
"If Putin becomes our prime minister, I can say that we will be happy,
very happy," says the Russia-based businessman Ara Abrahamyan.
Meanwhile, with regard to Robert Kocharyan’s prospect of becoming
prime minister and generally Robert Kocharyan’s political future
Ara Abrahamyan speaks indefinitely. "For Robert Kocharyan, I don’t
know, it is up to him to decide, because I don’t know what he will
be doing, I don’t know. You are asking me, I live in Russia, it is
good for us if Putin remains. That is already up to the Armenian
government. Whoever the prime minister of Armenia is, we must work
with him. We cannot refuse to cooperate. We cannot elect. You elect
and you make a decision. We elect in Russia, therefore we speak about
Russia," Ara Abrahamyan says.