Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Commentary To President Robert Kocharian's Interview With "Cnn-Turk" Tv Channel
by David Petrosyan
Posted: Tuesday, February 13, 2001 01:48 am CST

President Robert Kocharian's statement that Turkey's admitting the fact of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 would not allegedly entail any legal claims on the part of Armenia and could not serve as a ground for territorial claims appears to be a diplomatic trick in a sense.

The thing is that the Declaration of Independence adopted by Armenia's parliament as early as in August of 1990 quite unambiguously states: "...11. The Republic of Armenia supports international recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia."

Besides, it is clear from the documents adopted by the "ArmeniaDiaspora" Forum held in Yerevan in 1999 that Armenia, indeed, is a FOLLOWER in implementing the policy of Armenian Genocide recognition coordinated with the Diaspora. No doubt, the Diaspora is the leader here. It is natural that it should be so, since most of the descendants of the numerous victims of the first Genocide in the XX century now live outside Armenia.

On the other hand, by upholding the fair demands of their compatriots (including various kinds of demands for compensation), Armenia, as a state, can also be recognized as the legal successor of some of the victims. The opponents of the Armenians may say that there was no Armenian state on the world's map in 1915. It's true. But there was no Israeli state during the Second World War when the Holocaust was perpetrated. Thus, there are certain historical and legal analogues. However, there are differences too. Thus, for example, not so long ago, Russia's "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" newspaper published a report about the establishment of "Western Armenia's Government". This nontrivial initiative always leaves room for some interesting development.

Thus, logically, Turkish politicians and journalists had better appeal to Diasporan-Armenian organizations rather than to Armenia's leadership represented by the head of state. The recent press conference of Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau member Mario Nalbandian in Yerevan and the latest statement issued by the Armenian Assembly of America, another well-known Diasporan organization lobbying Armenian interests abroad, are an indirect confirmation of this thesis.

"The Noyan Tapan Highlights" N5 February 7 2001

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