Armenian foreign minister: For historians and experts in international relations the fact of Armenian Genocide is settled

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Turkey does not want to accept Armenia’s position or is trying to misinterpret it, said Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan while speaking at hearings at the Armenian parliament about problems and prospects of the Armenia-Turkey relations, a REGNUM correspondent informs.

According to him, the Turkish approach is to raise all debated issues, to receive an answer that suits Turkey and only after that to restore the diplomatic relations and open the border that was closed by Ankara one-sidedly in early 1990s. “Show to me two neighboring country in Europe that have no debated issues and problems, but none of them resorts to closing borders,” Oskanyan noted.

After listing all pre-conditions for Turkey to establish the relations with Armenia, the foreign minister noted that up to 1998, when the position of the authorities was relatively mild, Turkey was focusing upon one of the pre-conditions – settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. After leadership changed in Armenia, the situation became more complicated and Turkey started insisting upon all the three point equally.

The minister stressed that from the point of view of the international law, the Turkish pre-conditions stand no criticism. The question of NKR is a problem of Azerbaijan and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic; in this connection, Turkey’s interference and its attempt to make the relations with Armenia upon the Nagorno Karabakh conflict has no grounds. Moreover, there are some contradictions taking into account the Cyprus problem as well as the Treaty of Kars and the Moscow Treaty that are still in force de jure, believes Oskanyan.

The second pre-condition is recognition of Turkey’ border by Armenia, the minister noted, adding that if Turkey really wants to settle the issue, it must establish diplomatic relations that automatically mean mutual recognition of borderlines and non-interference into each other’s domestic affairs and so on. Speaking on Ankara’s claim to forget about a possibility of Turkey recognizing the Armenian Genocide and let historians discuss the issue, Oskanyan noted that for historians of not only Armenian origin and international experts in genocide issues the question has been settled long time ago. Moreover, until Article 301 of the Turkish constitution prohibiting mentioning of the Armenian Genocide exists, discussions and objectivity of Turkish historians still remains an open question. Recently, Oskanyan noted, claims for hampering activity of the Armenian Diaspora in seeking worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide and its discussion at parliaments of other nations. However, noted the foreign minister, it is internal affair of each country whether to recognize or not the Armenian Genocide; Armenia does not meddle in the issue.

Members of international organizations and Armenian political parties are participating in the hearings. Representatives from Turkey declined to participate in the hearings.