Armenia: We are not Cutting Ties With Turkey

“It doesn’t mean that we are cutting all our ties with Turkey,” Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan said, referring to the recent withdrawal of peace accords with Turkey which were signed in 2009. 

Speaking at “At the Foot of Ararat” International Media Forum yesterday, Sargsyan said that their goal is “the recognition of the Armenian Genocide along with the peoples in Turkey”.

“Armenians are all around the world in the 21^st century. Armenians are continuing to suffer from the psychological, political, cultural and linguistic consequences of the Armenian Genocide,” he said. 

24 April commemoration

Reminding that he had invited Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the 100^th Anniversary of Armenian Genocide Commemorations in Yerevan, Sargsyan continued as follows:

“However, Turkey’s denial policy resumed. I think of Turkey’s move to commemorate War of Dardanelles on April 24 not to preserve its historical victories but as an effort to distract the attention of international community to another direction on April 24.”

Sargsyan also said that Turkey’s organizing of a commemoration of April like “Germany’s celebration of Wermacht”.  

On the matter, Sargsyan made an appeal to the people in Turkey, saying that “the youth will save themselves from the heavy burden of the history.” 

Nagorno-Karabakh and Turkey

Commenting on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Sargsyan said the following:

“Years ago, [Former President of Azerbaijan] Heydar Aliyev claimed that Armenia would be isolated and formed policies accordingly. Turkey never took such a stance. If not for the Azerbaijan issue, the protocol could have continued.”

Sargsyan also commented that Turkey’s “zero problems with neighbors” policy ended up “having no neighbors ar all”. 

“Turkey’s real aim was to impose its neo-Ottoman policies, therefore the tension in Syria affected both Armenia and its other neighbors,” he said. (EA/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.