“Under these conditions, I rule out Turkey changing its policy.” Reuben

Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul Archbishop Sahak Mashalyan sent a message on the occasion of the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, where he stated that neither denial nor hostility can heal wounds.

“We remember A. The losses suffered by our people during the years of the World War, the displacement, exile and the immeasurable pain that has been passed on from generation to generation. But this commemoration is not only to be closed in the dark pages of the past. This commemoration is also a call to make sense of what we experienced and to move towards the future.

On these lands, where different peoples have lived side by side for centuries, the deposit of peaceful coexistence has received a heavy blow during those years. However, this same geography also reminds us of the inevitable truth – that peoples are not condemned to eternal opposition, but are called to coexistence, dialogue and mutual understanding. in the message Sahak Archbishop Mashalyan noted.

In 1915, 111 years ago, Turkey did not recognize and accept the Armenian Genocide committed by Ottoman Turkey in Western Armenia. At different times, he put forward different excuses for not dealing with the historical truth. The most common of these excuses is that Turkey proposes to leave it all to the “study of historians”.

Under what conditions can Turkey accept the Armenian Genocide, what is Turkey’s policy in this direction today?

Former director of the NAS Institute of Oriental Studies, academician, Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan from observation, Turkey as a state has never been close to recognizing the Armenian Genocide, and I think it won’t be close for a long time.

“There was a time when a group was created in Turkey: intellectuals, students, scientists, who spoke about the Armenian Genocide in a language that was different from the official language, because the official language generally denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide. They tried to find other ways to consider the issue of the Armenian Genocide, but it all lasted for several years. When the crackdown on dissidents increased in Turkey, some of the people involved in that group most likely left Turkey, and the others who remained, no longer express themselves on this topic.” 168.amRuben Safrastyan said in a conversation with

According to our interlocutor, at the moment, in Turkey, there is no other point of view regarding the fact of the Armenian Genocide publicly at the official level.

Regarding the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, Ruben Safrastyan said that Turkey’s rhetoric regarding this process has changed in some respects and has become more positive. On the other hand, it is visible that the problems are of technical nature, no real steps are being taken by Turkey.

“Under these circumstances, I rule out that Turkey can change its policy regarding the issue of the Armenian Genocide. If we imagine for a moment that in the future Armenian-Turkish relations will at least be settled diplomatically, and Turkey will establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, etc., I don’t think that even under those conditions, Turkey will change its policy towards the Armenian Genocide issue,” stressed Ruben Safrastyan.

To the question: what should be the policy pursued by Armenia in these conditions, the Turkologist answered: when they try to observe the policy of the Third Republic of Armenia towards Turkey from a historical point of view, they note that Armenia did not put forward any preconditions for regulating relations with Turkey, that is, Armenia never demanded that Turkey recognize the Armenian Genocide, and only after that establish diplomatic relations with Turkey.

“This has been the RA policy for decades, now it is difficult to say whether this is right or wrong, we can discuss this issue. I am sure that in the future, Armenia will not create any obstacles in the context of establishing relations with Turkey by bringing up the issue of the Armenian Genocide, that is, it will not demand that Turkey condemn the genocide, and then only Armenia establish relations.

I think this is first of all necessary for Turkey to recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide, regardless of its relations with Armenia, so that it can develop more dynamically as a society. Look, Germany solved that problem and how it is developing, and it is developing not only economically, but also as a society,” said Ruben Safrastyan.

He hopes that a time will come in Turkey when the Turkish society will understand that by recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide, they are not equating it with the crime of the past, but are opening a way for the future.

“In the 20th century, there was a famous Turkish writer, Nazem Hikmet, who is considered one of the important figures of Turkish literature. He has a novel, “Romantic”, the hero of that novel expresses himself as follows: “the massacre of Armenians is a big black stain on our forehead, if we want to move forward, we have to clean that stain.” I think this should be considered a problem of the maturity of the Turkish society,” emphasized Ruben Safrastyan.

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