29 05 2009 - Armenian party seeks end to talks

Hürriyet Daily News
ISTANBUL - The Armenian Revolutionary Federation calls on Armenian President Serge Sarkisian to discontinue talks with Turkey. The federation claims Turkey’s policies are ’anti-Armenian’ and that the normalization process has helped benefit Turkey only while the Armenian agenda is being driven out of the international arena little by little.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, or ARF, Supreme Council of Armenia issued an announcement Wednesday urging the Serge Sarkisian administration to immediately end its negotiations with Turkey, reported Asbarez.com.

Armen Rustamian, ARF Supreme Council of Armenia chairman, at a press conference read the statement, which called the past year’s diplomatic efforts to normalize relations with Turkey a failure.

In assessing the yearlong process to normalize Armenia-Turkey relations and the current situation created in that arena, the ARF statement read: "Until now, the settlement process has served and is serving only Turkey’s interests. On the one hand, Turkey is deflecting the international community’s attention from its internal problems and hypocritically acting as an advocate of establishing normal relations with neighbors." Meanwhile, the statement added, the Armenian agenda was being driven out of the international arena step by step.

"By gravely violating agreements, Turkey effectively has not dropped its preconditions. Furthermore it is attempting to dictate conditions on the Karabakh conflict resolution process, visibly taking Azerbaijan’s side and obscuring the Armenian-Azeri conflict," said the ARF in the written statement it issued.

The ARF statement read that the preconditions presented by Turkey in the talks were "not only unacceptable but also illegal." The statement read: "They insult our national dignity and endanger the future of our dual Armenian states and the Armenian people."

The ARF said that, in reality, Turkey continues its anti-Armenian policies, while, at the same time, attempts to play the international community. "It is evident that the opening of the border, which it closed, is its international responsibility and cannot serve as leverage or an opportunity to force preconditions on Armenia," it said.



’End the land blockade’

"At this juncture, Armenia and the Armenian people must prove that despite the blockade by Turkey, they can put forward bold political and economic policies and realize them, becoming a vital force in the region and a developed country, without compromising our national interests," read the statement.

"Based on these, we call on the president of the Republic of Armenia to reassess these policies and end the negotiations," it concluded.

The statement also said, "The only way to normalize relations between the two countries and address any pending issues was for Turkey to immediately end the land blockade and to adhere to international norms."

29 Mayýs 2009

GlobalHye Information Services
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http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2009-05-28-turkish-intellectuals-and-state-denial

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