RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AS PART OF SOUTH CAUCASIAN AND MID-EASTERN POLITICS
Abstract
Since restoring their country’s political independence, the Armenian leaders never tire of saying how important it is to have the world recognize the existence of the Armenian genocide and to redress the huge losses it has caused. This is set forth in the Declaration of Armenian Independence. In 1992-1997, certain political figures did a lot to push the issue beyond the range of attention; what is more, there was a lot of talk about the need to establish “close friendly” or, at least, “good-neighborly” relations with Turkey in order to allegedly ensure Armenia’s national independence. Later events demonstrated, how-ever, that Turkey took these statements for signs of weakness. Ankara failed to realize that international recognition of the 1915-1923 genocide was fraught with serious consequences and that it would be con fronted with huge problems in the sphere of international relations. This explains why Turkey intensified its embargo against Armenia under the pretext of needing to resolve the “Karabakh issue” in favor of Azerbaijan.
The regime of then Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrossian was prepared to discuss the problem so as not to offend its western neighbor, which meant that the head of state was too frightened to discuss the possibility of international recognition of the Armenian genocide. The first president dismissed Foreign Minister Raffi Oganessian, who dared to mention the issue at an international conference in Istanbul.
Zhirayr Liparityan,1 “éminence grise” of Armenia, repeatedly traveled to Turkey to assure its leaders of his continued dedication to Armenian-Turkish cooperation. More than that, the regime went as far as trying to prevent international recognition of the genocide. Amaiak Oganessian, who headed the Union of Political Scientists of Armenia, said that while discussing the international recognition issues in the State Duma of Russia he was pestered with phone calls from certain deputies of the Armenian parliament who demanded that he stop meddling in the issue.2
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Zh. Liparityan, a U.S. citizen, filled many high posts in the Republic of Armenia and was responsible for the Armenian-Turkish relations, in particular, for political rapprochement between the two countries.
The AR TV channel, Asparez Program, Erevan, 3 November, 2000.
Zh. Liparityan, “Revise the Past, Think about the Present: The Future of the Armenian-Turkish Relations,” the paper delivered on 17 June, 2000 at an international symposium “The Armenian-Turkish Dialog on the Armenian Issue” held in the Senate of France (see: Problems of Historiography and History of Armenian Genocide, Erevan, 2001, pp. 166-167, in Armenian).
R. Oganessian’s contribution to the international symposium “Genotsid armian i istoricheskaia pamiat: vyzov XXI veku,”Los Angeles, 8 April, 2000 (see: Gosudarstvo i natsia: ikh rol posle ob’iavlenia nezavisimosti. Armianskiy tsentr strategicheskikh i natsional’nykh issledovaniy. Analiticheskiy vypusk No. 20, Erevan, April 2000).
Gayastani Ganrapetutyun (Republic of Armenia), 8 May, 1999
The effort failed because of the U.S. president’s personal interference: Turkey is one of the key American allies in Hither Asia and the U.S. cherishes these relationships.
See: Azg (Nation), Erevan, 16 June, 2001.
Azg, 13 October, 2000.
R. Oganessian’s contribution to the international symposium “Genotsid armian i istoricheskaia pamiat: vyzov XXI veku”
see: Gosudarstvo i natsia: ikh rol posle ob’iavlenia nezavisimosti, p. 4).
See: Ayots Ashkhar (The Armenian Country), Erevan, 10 November, 2000.
For more detail, see: L. Barsegian, The U.S., Condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and the Opposition of Turkey,Erevan, 2001 (in Armenian).
See: Protokol zasedania nauchnogo soveta Instituta-muzeia genotsida armian Natsional’noy akademii nauk RA of 24 July, 2001, No. 3.
Gaykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Time), daily, Erevan, No. 175 (505), 11 October, 2001; see also: Protokol zasedania nauchnogo soveta Instituta-muzeia genotsida armian Natsional’noy akademii nauk RA of 24 July, 2001, No. 3, p. 2.
Noyan Tapan (Noah Arc) Information Agency, Erevan, 22 August, 2001.
Independent Armenia, the territory of which was divided in violation of international laws, had no say in the issue.
A treaty between the Entente and the Ottoman Empire which recognized the independence of Western Armenia and an autonomy of Turkish Kurdistan.
See: Statement From Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Leader Abdullah Ocalan, from broadcast of MED-TV, 13 De-cember, 1998 [http://www.hr-action.org/archive/ats080199.html], 27 March, 1999.
The figures are based on the documents presented by the Armenian delegations to the Paris Conference on 12 February,1919 (see: L.A. Barsegian, The Losses of the Armenian Nation in the Genocide, Erevan, 1999, p. 13 (in Armenian)).
See: Loys (Light), Tehran, No. 31, 15 July, 2001, p. 10.
See: Golos Armenii, Erevan, 23 October, 1997.
See: A. Veliev, “The Israel-Turkey-Azerbaijan Triangle: Present and Future,” Central Asia and the Caucasus, No. 2,2000.
Loys, No. 3, 15 July, 2001, p. 10.
See: A. Veliev, op. cit., pp. 82-83.
See: L. Barsegian, The U.S., Condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and the Opposition of Turkey, p. 42.
See: The Noyan Tapan Information Agency, Erevan, 19 June, 2001.
Azg, 12 May, 2000.
See: Azg, 24 May, 2000.
The reference is to Turkish statements about the Arabian sham genocide.
See: Azg, 27 May, 2000.
L.A. Barsegian, Gayots tsekhaspanutyan graparakaynoren datapartman ezh chanachman zhamanakagrutyun (1915-2000)
Chronology of Public Recognition and Condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, from 1915 to 2000), Erevan, 2001, p. 76.
Ms. Kohen said: “The Holocaust is unique because it was planned in advance with the aim of exterminating a nation. So far, nothing can be likened to the Holocaust.”
Azg, 13 February, 2002.
Azg, 19 February, 2002.
Azg, 7 March, 2002.
The Noyan Tapan Information Agency (Erevan) reporting from Ankara, 12 March, 2002.
Azg, 13 March, 2002.
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