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SHARMAZANOV: TER-PETROSYAN APPEALS FOR BURYING ARMENIAN CAUSE
NEWS | 25.03.15 | 10:27
GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
RELATED NEWS
A Voice in the Wilderness: Ter-Petrosyan reiterates criticism over
Genocide Centennial Declaration
The latest article by Armenia's first president that criticizes the
Pan-Armenian Declaration on the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide
and contains a personal message to the international community has
been dismissed by Deputy Parliament Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov as
"an appeal burying the Armenian Cause".
In his previous two articles and an open letter to President Serzh
Sargsyan in February and March Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who currently
leads the opposition Armenian National Congress, warned that legal
claims set out as a policy in the recently adopted Declaration will
affect the process of Armenian-Turkish normalization.
On Tuesday, he published in the Chorrord Ishkhanutyun newspaper his
own draft of an appeal to the international community on the Genocide
Centennial.
Ter-Petrosyan said that he was ready to listen to and take into account
suggestions, comments and additions from all parties concerned, but
at the same time expressed confidence that the spirit of an appeal
like the one drafted by him would be "more useful" for Armenia.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly Eduard
Sharmazanov commented on Ter-Petrosyan's article, reiterating that
the international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh and of the Armenian
Genocide are two major cornerstones of Armenia's foreign policy and
that the number of countries and institutions that condemn the Armenian
Genocide is increasing in the world ahead of the commemoration of
the Genocide Centennial.
"But there are politicians who once occupied high office... and today
come up with appeals that even in the case of great desire cannot
be described as those serving the interests of the Armenian state,"
said Sharmazanov, a senior member of President Sargsyan's ruling
Republican Party of Armenia. "I would describe Levon Ter-Petrosyan's
appeal as an appeal burying the Armenian Cause."
In his appeal Ter-Petrosyan, in particular, says that Armenia should
not demand that Turkey recognize the Armenian Genocide and should not
hinder Turkey's accession to the European Union by raising the issue
of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by it as a precondition.
But Sharmazanov said that efforts to achieve international affirmation
of the Armenian Genocide are crucial today and it is due to these
efforts that many countries today not only condemn the Armenian
Genocide but also pass laws criminalizing denial of the Armenian
Genocide.
Sharmazanov also slammed Ter-Petrosyan for linking Armenian-Turkish
normalization with settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"For five years we have been saying that there is no linking the
Karabakh settlement process with the process of normalization with
Turkey and that Turkey has nothing to do with the Karabakh settlement
process," Sharmazanov emphasized.
http://armenianow.com/news/61733/armenia_levon_terpetrosyan_genocide_declaration_ar ticle
From: A. Papazian
NEWS | 25.03.15 | 10:27
GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
RELATED NEWS
A Voice in the Wilderness: Ter-Petrosyan reiterates criticism over
Genocide Centennial Declaration
The latest article by Armenia's first president that criticizes the
Pan-Armenian Declaration on the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide
and contains a personal message to the international community has
been dismissed by Deputy Parliament Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov as
"an appeal burying the Armenian Cause".
In his previous two articles and an open letter to President Serzh
Sargsyan in February and March Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who currently
leads the opposition Armenian National Congress, warned that legal
claims set out as a policy in the recently adopted Declaration will
affect the process of Armenian-Turkish normalization.
On Tuesday, he published in the Chorrord Ishkhanutyun newspaper his
own draft of an appeal to the international community on the Genocide
Centennial.
Ter-Petrosyan said that he was ready to listen to and take into account
suggestions, comments and additions from all parties concerned, but
at the same time expressed confidence that the spirit of an appeal
like the one drafted by him would be "more useful" for Armenia.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly Eduard
Sharmazanov commented on Ter-Petrosyan's article, reiterating that
the international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh and of the Armenian
Genocide are two major cornerstones of Armenia's foreign policy and
that the number of countries and institutions that condemn the Armenian
Genocide is increasing in the world ahead of the commemoration of
the Genocide Centennial.
"But there are politicians who once occupied high office... and today
come up with appeals that even in the case of great desire cannot
be described as those serving the interests of the Armenian state,"
said Sharmazanov, a senior member of President Sargsyan's ruling
Republican Party of Armenia. "I would describe Levon Ter-Petrosyan's
appeal as an appeal burying the Armenian Cause."
In his appeal Ter-Petrosyan, in particular, says that Armenia should
not demand that Turkey recognize the Armenian Genocide and should not
hinder Turkey's accession to the European Union by raising the issue
of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by it as a precondition.
But Sharmazanov said that efforts to achieve international affirmation
of the Armenian Genocide are crucial today and it is due to these
efforts that many countries today not only condemn the Armenian
Genocide but also pass laws criminalizing denial of the Armenian
Genocide.
Sharmazanov also slammed Ter-Petrosyan for linking Armenian-Turkish
normalization with settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"For five years we have been saying that there is no linking the
Karabakh settlement process with the process of normalization with
Turkey and that Turkey has nothing to do with the Karabakh settlement
process," Sharmazanov emphasized.
http://armenianow.com/news/61733/armenia_levon_terpetrosyan_genocide_declaration_ar ticle
From: A. Papazian