Armenian News-NEWS.am’s correspondent talked to Turkologist Andranik Ispiryan about the election of Turkish diplomat Volkan Bozkir to the position of President of the 75th United Nations General Assembly.
According to the Turkologist, what is troubling for Armenia is not only the fact that a Turkish figure is elected President of the United Nations General Assembly, but also the fact that he is a member of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, which has a strictly negative attitude towards Armenia.
“When he was chair of the foreign relations committee of the Turkish parliament and minister for relations with the European Union, he would make anti-Armenian statements. As minister for European Union affairs, in 2015, he declared that the European Parliament’s call on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide was of no value for Turkey, and he coarsely responded to then US President Barack Obama who had dared to utter the word “Yeghern” in Armenian.
Bozkir is also known for his statements to unconditionally support Azerbaijan for settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
As the chair of the foreign relations committee of the Turkish parliament, what was the most shameful statement was his statement according to which he will not allow normalization of relations with Armenia during his term of office. This is the kind of politician elected to the position of President of the 75th United Nations General Assembly in the 21st century,” Ispiryan stated, adding that it’s natural that Bozkir will try to work against Armenia and Armenians and support Turkey and Azerbaijan during his term of office. However, Ispiryan says there is no need to overestimate the role of the president of the UN General Assembly since it is a more of a symbolic position.