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AHEAD OF GENOCIDE CENTENARY: ARMENIAN LEADERS RAISE RECOGNITION ISSUES DURING VISITS ABROAD
ANALYSIS | 09.07.14 | 09:19
http://armenianow.com/commentary/analysis/55885/armenia_genocide_recognition_president_sargsyan
Photo: www.president.am
By NAIRA HAYRUMYAN
ArmeniaNow correspondent
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who has been on a tour of
South America since late last week, visited Argentina where the
main subject of his speeches and meetings was the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide. Both houses of the Argentine Parliament
recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1993, in different cities in
Argentina there are monuments to the victims of the 1915 Genocide,
and the Armenian community in this country is considered to be one
of the most influential.
The Genocide subject ahead of the 100th anniversary of the tragedy
becomes a major one in the rhetoric of Armenian leaders. Armenian
Parliament Speaker Galust Sahakyan, who paid a visit to Moscow,
invited the leaders of both houses of the Russian parliament,
Valentina Matvienko and Sergei Naryshkin, to attend an international
parliamentary conference in Yerevan that will be held in April 2015.
The conference is part of the approved schedule of activities for
the centennial of the genocide.
The visits to Yerevan by Pope Francis and French President Francois
Hollande have already been unofficially announced for April 24, 1915.
The arrival of other world leaders is also expected. Armenia is also
preparing a legal file in connection with the Genocide, deportations
of Armenians and the seizure of their property in what is now Turkey.
Materials have appeared in the press challenging the legal basis of
Turkey's ownership of Western Armenia.
In particular, the Russian-Armenian newspaper, Yerkramas, published an
article by the late Armenian diplomat Levon Eyramdjyants in which he
gives irrefutable evidence that the 1921 Moscow Treaty was concluded
only for 25 years, until 1946. It is this treaty that divided the
Armenian lands between Turkey and Bolshevik Russia. In Armenia there
are already articles in which authors demand the revision of the
Moscow Treaty.
Still at the beginning of this year a state commission was set up in
Turkey with the aim of developing measures against the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide. Apparently, the Commission advised that Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issue a message to the Armenian
people on April 23, 2013. Among the steps may also be the opening of
the Armenian-Turkish border as a Turkish gesture towards Armenia.
However, analysts argue that the Armenian Question was and still is
part of bigger regional geopolitics and enacting it is possible
within the framework of geopolitical shifts expected in the
region. In particular, the probable creation of a Kurdish state,
now in the territories of Iraq and Syria, may lead to the revision
of the Treaty of Lausanne and the return to the Treaty of Sevres,
under which Armenia was to have been united.
The fact that Armenia is making the Genocide subject "topical",
including during President Sargsyan's latest visits, proves that
Yerevan agrees to participate in these geopolitical developments that
could deprive Turkey of the grounds for its territorial integrity. The
replacement of the Treaty of Sevres by the Treaty of Lausanne took
Armenia out of the context of the redistribution of the Ottoman Empire
lands. The question is whether Armenia will again remain outside the
possible changes now.
ANALYSIS | 09.07.14 | 09:19
http://armenianow.com/commentary/analysis/55885/armenia_genocide_recognition_president_sargsyan
Photo: www.president.am
By NAIRA HAYRUMYAN
ArmeniaNow correspondent
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who has been on a tour of
South America since late last week, visited Argentina where the
main subject of his speeches and meetings was the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide. Both houses of the Argentine Parliament
recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1993, in different cities in
Argentina there are monuments to the victims of the 1915 Genocide,
and the Armenian community in this country is considered to be one
of the most influential.
The Genocide subject ahead of the 100th anniversary of the tragedy
becomes a major one in the rhetoric of Armenian leaders. Armenian
Parliament Speaker Galust Sahakyan, who paid a visit to Moscow,
invited the leaders of both houses of the Russian parliament,
Valentina Matvienko and Sergei Naryshkin, to attend an international
parliamentary conference in Yerevan that will be held in April 2015.
The conference is part of the approved schedule of activities for
the centennial of the genocide.
The visits to Yerevan by Pope Francis and French President Francois
Hollande have already been unofficially announced for April 24, 1915.
The arrival of other world leaders is also expected. Armenia is also
preparing a legal file in connection with the Genocide, deportations
of Armenians and the seizure of their property in what is now Turkey.
Materials have appeared in the press challenging the legal basis of
Turkey's ownership of Western Armenia.
In particular, the Russian-Armenian newspaper, Yerkramas, published an
article by the late Armenian diplomat Levon Eyramdjyants in which he
gives irrefutable evidence that the 1921 Moscow Treaty was concluded
only for 25 years, until 1946. It is this treaty that divided the
Armenian lands between Turkey and Bolshevik Russia. In Armenia there
are already articles in which authors demand the revision of the
Moscow Treaty.
Still at the beginning of this year a state commission was set up in
Turkey with the aim of developing measures against the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide. Apparently, the Commission advised that Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issue a message to the Armenian
people on April 23, 2013. Among the steps may also be the opening of
the Armenian-Turkish border as a Turkish gesture towards Armenia.
However, analysts argue that the Armenian Question was and still is
part of bigger regional geopolitics and enacting it is possible
within the framework of geopolitical shifts expected in the
region. In particular, the probable creation of a Kurdish state,
now in the territories of Iraq and Syria, may lead to the revision
of the Treaty of Lausanne and the return to the Treaty of Sevres,
under which Armenia was to have been united.
The fact that Armenia is making the Genocide subject "topical",
including during President Sargsyan's latest visits, proves that
Yerevan agrees to participate in these geopolitical developments that
could deprive Turkey of the grounds for its territorial integrity. The
replacement of the Treaty of Sevres by the Treaty of Lausanne took
Armenia out of the context of the redistribution of the Ottoman Empire
lands. The question is whether Armenia will again remain outside the
possible changes now.