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NO GAINS, BUT NO LOSSES, EITHER
Lusine Vasilyan
"Radiolur"
21.02.2012 17:34
"Armenia actually gained nothing as a result of football diplomacy,
but it did not lose anything, either," Ruben Safrastyan, Director of
the Oriental Studies Institute of the Armenian National Academy of
Sciences, told reporters today.
According to him, what has been taking place between Armenian and
Turkey on the level of public diplomacy during the past three years,
should be considered from several viewpoints. Turkey, which claims to
be a leader in the region and have zero problems with its neighbors,
did not manage or did not want to establish relations with Armenia.
"We made it clear that Armenia is ready to establish diplomatic
relations with Turkey, while the latter is not, that's why it uses
factors that actually have nothing to do with the normalization of
interstate relations between Armenia and Turkey," he said.
If we view the Armenian-Turkish normalization process from the
perspective of the Armenian Cause and recognition of the Armenian
Genocide, Armenia has not suffered any losses, either, Ruben Safrastyan
said. "Furthermore, the controversies between the Armenian public
and the Diaspora revealed several important realities," he added.
"First, it became clear that our people are committed to national
values. We actually saw that Armenia and Diaspora do not exist
separately, there is a united Armenian nation, which has common
all-Armenian problems," Safrastyan stated.
President Serzh Sargsyan's speech and the Constitutional Court's
decision after the signing of the Zurich protocols determined the
line, which Armenia is not willing and is not going to cross, and
this is an achievement of the process, he added.
As for the prospects of Armenian-Turkish normalization, Safrastyan
believes the Armenian diplomacy should continue working with the
same logic, but more actively. "We are ready to normalize interstate
relations with Turkey without any precondition," he said, adding that
the question is about interstate relations, not good-neighborly ties.
Lusine Vasilyan
"Radiolur"
21.02.2012 17:34
"Armenia actually gained nothing as a result of football diplomacy,
but it did not lose anything, either," Ruben Safrastyan, Director of
the Oriental Studies Institute of the Armenian National Academy of
Sciences, told reporters today.
According to him, what has been taking place between Armenian and
Turkey on the level of public diplomacy during the past three years,
should be considered from several viewpoints. Turkey, which claims to
be a leader in the region and have zero problems with its neighbors,
did not manage or did not want to establish relations with Armenia.
"We made it clear that Armenia is ready to establish diplomatic
relations with Turkey, while the latter is not, that's why it uses
factors that actually have nothing to do with the normalization of
interstate relations between Armenia and Turkey," he said.
If we view the Armenian-Turkish normalization process from the
perspective of the Armenian Cause and recognition of the Armenian
Genocide, Armenia has not suffered any losses, either, Ruben Safrastyan
said. "Furthermore, the controversies between the Armenian public
and the Diaspora revealed several important realities," he added.
"First, it became clear that our people are committed to national
values. We actually saw that Armenia and Diaspora do not exist
separately, there is a united Armenian nation, which has common
all-Armenian problems," Safrastyan stated.
President Serzh Sargsyan's speech and the Constitutional Court's
decision after the signing of the Zurich protocols determined the
line, which Armenia is not willing and is not going to cross, and
this is an achievement of the process, he added.
As for the prospects of Armenian-Turkish normalization, Safrastyan
believes the Armenian diplomacy should continue working with the
same logic, but more actively. "We are ready to normalize interstate
relations with Turkey without any precondition," he said, adding that
the question is about interstate relations, not good-neighborly ties.