Turkish Prime Minister Regep Tayyip Ergogan’s statement on the eve of the day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide was “an improved demonstration of denial of the crime,” the Head of Staff of the President’s Office Vigen Sargsyan told Armenpress.
“It includes the same old famous thesis of the Turkish propaganda machine of putting the victim and the executor on the same level, distorting the link between the cause and the consequence, reviewing the historic facts known to everyone,” he said.
“In reality Turkey is required to do a different thing – recognize the history and unequivocally condemn the historic crimes. In Christianity it is called penitence. As President Serzh Sargsyan noted in his address, “Only recognition and condemnation can prevent the repetition of such crimes in the future.” To condemn the crimes of the past does not mean to recognize the whole nation that carries this history as criminal. It is necessary to point to the concrete developers and perpetrators of the policy. This is first of all necessary to the carriers of that history, since only this will provide an opportunity to distinguish between the people and the shameful pages of history,” Vigen Sargsyan said.
“The Turkish Prime Minister speaks about the inadmissibility of turning the history into matter of political conflict. However, the fact is that Turkey’s attitude towards Armenia is not history, as it fully continues into modern politics. Demonstrations of it are the illegal blockade of Armenia and Turkey’s policy towards Armenia in international structures,” he added.
“As for dialogue PM Erdogan calls to, I have to remind that we had such dialogue, and it found its logical formulation in the Zurich protocols, the ratification of which was suspended by the Turkish side. The Armenian President noted in his address that “The attitude towards Armenia can no longer be measured by words” and that “the idea of “reasonable terms” of ratification of the protocols is becoming more urgent than ever,” Vigen Sargsyan concluded.
