Armen Posted June 5, 2005 Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 (edited) RFE/RL Armenia Report - 06/02/2005 Dashnaks Plan Shift In Genocide Recognition Effort By Ruzanna Stepanian The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) plans a major shift in its decades-long campaign for international recognition of the Armenian genocide that will aim to hold modern-day Turkey accountable for the events of 1915-1918, it emerged on Friday. Giro Manoyan, the spokesman for the pan-Armenian party's governing Bureau, said that genocide recognition alone would not restore historic justice and that the international community should now `hold Turkey accountable' for the extermination of some 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. `There is no longer a need to merely prove a historic fact,' Manoyan told RFE/RL. He indicated that this will be at the heart of a planned `adjustment' of the activities Dashnaktsutyun's lobbying structures in the United States, Europe and elsewhere in the world. Representatives of those structures began on Friday a two-day meeting to discuss the shift in the nationalist party's emphases. The meeting took place behind the closed doors. The policy change is in tune with one of the main tenets of Dashnaktsutyun which has never made secret of its desire to get Turkey to not only admit to the genocide but also pay material compensation to Armenia and descendants of genocide victims. Earlier this year, Dashnaktsutyun accused the United States of prodding Turkey to recognize the genocide `without consequences.' Its leaders also want Yerevan to keep the door open for future territorial and financial claims to Ankara. `We believe that Armenia is unable to make such demands today,' Manoyan told RFE/RL in April. `But this doesn't mean that it will be unable to do so tomorrow.' This stance contrasts with the official position of the Armenian government in which Dashnaktsutyun is represented with three ministers. `We are not talking about compensations, this is only about a moral issue,' President Robert Kocharian said recently. Manoyan claimed on Friday that in seeking Turkish reparations the Armenians can count on the support of countries like France that want Turkey to address the genocide issue before joining the European Union. `Incidentally, these are the countries that have said `no' to the EU constitution,' he said. `According to commentators in those countries, the `no' vote was in large part due to the prospect of Turkey's EU membership.' However, neither France nor other EU nations that recognized the Armenian genocide have ever called for Turkish reparations. In a landmark 1987 resolution, the European Parliament stressed that `neither political nor legal or material claims against present-day Turkey can be derived from the recognition of this historical event as an act of genocide.' Edited June 5, 2005 by Armen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Posted June 5, 2005 Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 I just hope lobbying and "adjustments" does not mean harming our collective interests, way back in early days dashnak party did lots of great contributions to our Nation, I just hope it will regain her past image. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MosJan Posted June 5, 2005 Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 behind the closed doors I love it lets see haw fast the " Chit Chat " will make to The " market " and who will be the first one to Offer the " good's" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantom22 Posted June 5, 2005 Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 The Dashnaks are just realists. They realize that it is time to proceed to the next step. Turkey has suceeded in making itself the laughingstock of most of the civilized world except for the US, Israel and perhaps Pakistan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z'areh Posted June 5, 2005 Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 The Dashnaks are just realists. They realize that it is time to proceed to the next step. Turkey has suceeded in making itself the laughingstock of most of the civilized world except for the US, Israel and perhaps Pakistan. style_images/master/snapback.png It's more like "ask for the most to get the least", not unlike trading in a souq. It is a contest of extremes. one side claims they never committed massacres in their entire history, the other side wants Sassoon, Mush and Van. So what's the middle ground? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armen Posted June 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 I just hope lobbying and "adjustments" does not mean harming our collective interests, way back in early days dashnak party did lots of great contributions to our Nation, I just hope it will regain her past image. style_images/master/snapback.png Edward, as long as it is just one party (which will not control the govt) it is OK. However, it would be realy harmful to accept this policy at present. I think Kocharian's position is much more reasonable. The Dashnaks are just realists. They realize that it is time to proceed to the next step. Turkey has suceeded in making itself the laughingstock of most of the civilized world except for the US, Israel and perhaps Pakistan. style_images/master/snapback.png What is so realistic about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anoushik Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 I don't know much about this but doesn't this seem like a good thing? They are just reacting to Turkey. I guess this will show the world that if modern Turkey is not responsible then why doesn't Turkey accept that a genocide took place, and why are they working so hard to cover up history? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anoushik Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Seeing Turkey's behavior in the past and the present it is just logical to hold Turkey directly responsible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armen Posted June 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 I don't know much about this but doesn't this seem like a good thing? style_images/master/snapback.png Anoushik, as far as I see they are risking to alienate and isolate the part of Turkish public, in particular, the academia that has moved to open the discussion and educate the Turkish public. However, my knowledge on this is superficial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasun Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Anoushik, as far as I see they are risking to alienate and isolate the part of Turkish public, in particular, the academia that has moved to open the discussion and educate the Turkish public. However, my knowledge on this is superficial. style_images/master/snapback.png Armen, my knowledge on this is also superficial, but as far as I can see IF truth is a matter of negotiation and we have to somehow compromise to that part of Turkish public in order for them to accept half-truth then they can go to hell with the other part of the Turkish public I want our lands! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armen Posted June 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Armen, my knowledge on this is also superficial, but as far as I can see IF truth is a matter of negotiation and we have to somehow compromise to that part of Turkish public in order for them to accept half-truth then they can go to hell with the other part of the Turkish public I want our lands! style_images/master/snapback.png It is not about truth Sasun. It is about the consequences. If we increase their cost they may not be able to pay it. However, as a friend wrote to recently this attitude has a positive side to it. It declares that reconition is no more a matter of doubt on international level and it is only Turkey that opposes it, which is largely true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasun Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 It is not about truth Sasun. It is about the consequences. If we increase their cost they may not be able to pay it. However, as a friend wrote to recently this attitude has a positive side to it. It declares that reconition is no more a matter of doubt on international level and it is only Turkey that opposes it, which is largely true. style_images/master/snapback.png Armen jan, I see what you are saying. So they may accept the historical truth, but not agree to reparations, or agree to a minimal level of reparations. I view it as a way of not accepting a wider sense of truth, which means that if you wrongfully take away something then you have to give it back. If they are not ready for that then that qualifies as accepting half-truth of the story. Political considerations and diplomacy aside, I think we need more than words from the Turkish public. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 (edited) All said and are in progress, be the official or partisan approach, I don’t see how Armenians as a Nation could confront collectively to such a heavy question as acceptance of Turkey regarding AG...... We have many issues which set as apart then unites as. We need to cover important grounds first; the feasible important approach in this case would be the official voice of the government of ROA, in which there would be a bipartisan/united voice. As Armen stated, Kocharyan administration so far had the right approach. Bipartisan, I meant to have a united voice between ROA and Diaspora Edited June 6, 2005 by Edward Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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