TURKS REJECT ARMENIA’S OFFER OF DIALOG AT GENERAL ASSEMBLY O

[MosJan]

TURKS REJECT ARMENIA’S OFFER OF DIALOG AT GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF UNITED NATIONS

At the General Assembly of the United Nations, last week, the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vartan Oskanian, in an accommodating suggestion, offered to establish a dialog with Turkey without any pre-conditions. The Turkish representative immediately and categorically rejected his proposal and went on to deny the facts of the Genocide. The Armenian and Turkish delegations then got into a lengthy debate on the Armenian Genocide. Thus, officials from almost 200 countries were exposed to the facts of the Armenian Genocide and witnessed first-hand Turkey’s failing attempts at historical revisionism. Here are some excerpts from the exchange between the Armenian and Turkish delegations at the U.N., on November 14:

 

 

Foreign Minister Oskanian: “As for our relations with Turkey, perhaps in this post-September 11 world, when the Cold War has truly and finally ended, where erstwhile adversaries have found reasons to put aside ideology and establish partnerships, perhaps Turkey will put aside preconditions in the interests of regional and world peace. Armenia would like to have normal good neighborly relations with Turkey and is hopeful that Turkey will establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, open the borders and engage in constructive cooperation. But the obvious must be said. The memory of the Armenian Genocide continues to haunt and obstruct Turkey’s relations with Armenia. However, we are confident that this issue can be addressed between the two governments, through dialog.

 

 

The events of the last two months reminded Armenians that man is indeed capable of immense, indescribable evil and that mass violence is not a thing of the past. Yet, if we, as the victims of Genocide, are unwilling to permit our own tragic past to define our actions in the future, we can confidently call on Turkey to do the same, and join us as equal participants in a dialog between our two peoples.”

 

 

Representative of Turkey: “Today, the Armenian Foreign Minister, Mr. Vartan Oskanian, deploring once again the absence of diplomatic relations with neighboring Turkey, called on Turkey to join in a dialog while claiming that Armenia is not willing to permit its tragic past to define its actions in the future. Unfortunately, what Mr. Oskanian implied today, tells us otherwise. Armenia is still willing to usurp an indeed tragic past. Yet, the least we, at this august assembly, needed today was the fomenting of hatred. While we do not negate the suffering nor forget the tragedy that befell upon all the people of Anatolia and the Caucasus, we deplore the language Mr. Oskanian chose to employ today. Armenia is haunted by a distorted version of history reflected in its founding document. It continues to occupy Nagorno-Karabagh and other Azerbaijani territory. At any rate, Mr. Oskanian’s judgments on Turkey are based on falsifications of history. They refuse to this day to see our suffering and fail to show the responsibility of the senseless, radical and revolutionary Armenian leadership of the day in the tragic events which took place. The Armenian government knows very well the requirements of an honest dialog and improved relations. Today, those elements were absent in what was delivered by Mr. Oskanian.”

 

 

Representative of Armenia: “the issue of the Armenian Genocide is not something that needs to be proven. When 2 million people suddenly, in a matter of weeks, disappear from their historic homeland of 3,000 years, that can only be a result of a planned and well-executed genocide. When hundreds of Armenian intellectuals living in Istanbul, including the Armenian members of the Turkish Parliament, are executed without trial in one day, that can only be the result of genocide. This is absolutely clear not only to us but is also clear to a large number of states that have officially recognized and condemned the crime of genocide committed against the Armenian people. There is one evidence in favor of our position that is more than relevant in the United Nations: These are the words of Raphael Lemkin, the author of this term genocide, and one of the co-authors of the Convention on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide. He said once that the international community needs this Convention in order to prevent from happening what had happened to Armenians during World War I and to Jews during World War II. As for the issue of occupying other countries’ territories, we believe that the country which itself has committed a crime of aggression and still occupies nearly half of Cyprus, has no right to use the term occupation at the United Nations and to use it when speaking about other countries. Turkey has been using the issue of the Armenian Genocide to sabotage all our efforts to normalize our relations with Turkey and to establish good neighborly relations between our people. Just an hour ago, my Foreign Minister repeated his call, confirming our readiness to engage in a constructive dialog with Turkey without any preconditions. We hope that this time, this call will not go unanswered.”

 

 

Representative of Turkey: “I will restrain myself to what Prof. Bernard Lewis wrote: ‘The Armenians want to benefit from both worlds. On the one hand, they speak with pride of their struggle against Ottoman despotism, while on the other hand, they compare their tragedy with the Jewish Holocaust.’ That is exactly what is taking place right now. Mr. Boghos Noubar, a foremost Armenian leader himself, said that ‘the Armenians have been since the beginning of the war de facto belligerents.’ And he continued, ‘they fought alongside the Allies on all fronts.’ What I would like to underline here is that Turkey never negated the suffering of the gifted Armenian race. But, they want us to honor only their deaths, while we say that both deaths of Armenians and Turks and other people should be honored.”

 

 

Representative of Armenia: “I would like just to draw the attention of my distinguished Turkish colleague that it is not the Armenian side that has made this comparison between the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust. As far as I remember, I was quoting Mr. Raphael Lemkin, the author of the term genocide, a well-recognized authority on this issue. s for the suffering of the Turkish side, I think that there can be absolutely no comparison between the suffering of the executioner and his victims.”

 

 

The above exchange confirms the fact that the Turkish government is not ready for any kind of dialog with the Armenians. All those who believe that a few self-appointed Armenian individuals can resolve the complex Armenian-Turkish issue by a series of heart-to-heart meetings or by an exchange of singers and dancers, are either fooling themselves or are being fooled by the Turks!

 

 

By Harut Sassounian, California Courier Publisher

 

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