WHAT WE EXPECT AND DEMAND FROM TURKEY: DISCUSSION IN YEREVAN
18:27 09.07.2014
Alisa Gevorgyan
Public Radio of Armenia
The Turkish Taraf claimed in a recent article that Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan intends to normalize the relations with
Armenia and open the border. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
shortly refuted the report.
“It was a message to the international community that Turkey wishes
to improve relations with Armenia, but there are certain factors
preventing this,” Head of the Modus Vivendi Center Ara Papyan told
reporters today. According to him, there will not be lack of such
actions by Turkey ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide. “Turkey is under pressure and has to create an imitation
there is a process going on,” he said.
Giro Manoyan, Head of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau’s
Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office, also sees this as imitation. “In
reality, no such relations will be established either with Armenia or
with Armenians because of the simple reason that Turkey is constantly
saying that the relations with Armenia will not normalize unless the
Karabakh issue is solved.
Ara Papyan said “whatever Turkey does with regard to the border, it
will last until at least May-June 2015, and then Turkey will find a
reason to return to the starting point.
Aris Nalci, head of the new programs at International Media TV (IMC),
said the information disseminated by Taraf is not a complete lie,
as construction works are under way on different parts of the border.
Are we going to interpret the Ankara’s messages addressed to its
domestic audience or we’ll take more effort to transfer the issue of
Armenian-Turkish relations to the international legal field?
“Unfortunately, Turkey has succeeded in presenting the Armenian-Turkish
issue as a question of opening of the border, but Armenia should try
to transfer the issue of the Armenian-Genocide to the international
legal field. Before that, Armenia must have a complete understanding
of what we are expecting and demanding from Turkey,” Ara Papyan said.
Giro Manoyan reiterated his opinion that “Armenia should recall the
protocols, because they enable Turkey to assume a role in the Karabakh
issue and show the international community that there is a process
taking place between the two countries.”