YEREVAN, January 26. /ARKA/. The opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation/Dashnaktsutyun (ARF) party has harshly criticized Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for a number of statements the latter made during a Monday evening online press conference.
“The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia has made statements, which on the one hand, distort historical facts and, on the other hand, almost identically repeat the Azerbaijani-Turkish views, which have been effectively fought for years by the worldwide network of ARF committees and offices. And now it is very regrettable to hear the repetition of the hostile views from the mouth of the head of the executive power of Armenia,” the ARF says in a statement.
“Pashinyan stated, in particular, that the Republic of Armenia has never been involved in the Armenian Cause (pursuing international recognition of the Armenian Genocide) and that ‘the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is largely the outcome of the Armenian Diaspora’s activities,’ the ARF statement reads.
In this regard, the ARF points out that Pashinyan probably deliberately glosses over the fact that the 1921 Kars Treaty, null and void from the perspective of international law, has not been accepted by the Republic of Armenia as the legal basis for defining the Armenian-Turkish border.
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“This is evidenced by the wording mentioned in President Serzh Sargsyan’s October 10, 2009 message that “the issue of borders between Armenia and Turkey must be resolved in accordance with international law”. There is nothing else in the protocols (signed by Armenia and Turkey in 2009 in Zurich)”. Moreover, in the January 12, 2010 decision of the Constitutional Court of Armenia on the constitutionality of Zurich protocols the border between Armenia and Turkey is mentioned as a “de facto border”,” ARF recalls.
According to the Dashnaktsutyun statement, the All-Armenian Declaration, developed by the State Commission for the Coordination of Measures for the Armenian Genocide Centennial and presented in Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial on January 29, 2015, was and remains a unique nationwide document regarding the circumstances surrounding the Armenian Genocide and further actions.
The ARF notes that while the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide was mainly driven by Diaspora organizations, its effectiveness increased manifold after support from the authorities of the Republic of Armenia in accordance with the Declaration of Independence of Armenia adopted on August 23, 1990.
According to the Dashnaktsutyun statement, the Armenian government’s 2021-2026 program mentions that “the government will use international recognition of the Genocide not to increase regional tensions, but rather to defuse the situation in the region.”
“The question arises: how can international recognition of the Genocide be combined with the development of relations with Turkey? It should also be noted that the process of international recognition of the Genocide is not included in the government’s program, which indicates its withdrawal from the foreign policy agenda of Armenia,” the ARF notes.
The ARF says the Armenian Prime Minister did not scruple to make extremely dangerous statements regarding the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) issue.
“We regret that the Armenian Prime Minister is either so unprepared that he does not know or deliberately distorts the relationship between the right to self-determination and the principle of territorial integrity in international law. The dispute over the relationship between the right to self-determination and the principle of territorial integrity was further concretized by the July 22, 2010 Advisory Opinion of the UN International Court of Justice in connection with Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence… We would like to note only that the Court simply stated that “the scope of the principle of territorial integrity is limited to the sphere of relations between recognized States. The Court concluded that international law doesn’t prohibit unilateral declaration of independence,” Dashnaktsutyun stresses.
As the ARF notes, instead of taking advantage of the objective circumstances strengthening the position of the Armenian side in its relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, the Armenian authorities, unable to do so, fully yielded to the shameful repetition of Azerbaijani-Turkish views, and in relations with Turkey were satisfied with the well-known preconditions.
The ARF statement emphasizes that despite the defeatist and shameful position of the Armenian authorities, the ARF network around the world continues to uphold the rights of the Armenian people.
During a Facebook press conference on Monday, Pashinyan stressed, in particular, that the issue of Hay Dat (recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire) has never been part of the policy of the Republic of Armenia, and the country itself has never questioned the Armenian-Turkish border. According to him, the current authorities of the Republic of Armenia have not abandoned this policy either.
Touching upon the issue of Turkey’s recognition of the Genocide, Pashinyan stressed that the Armenian Diaspora and Diaspora organizations have always been the driving force behind the process.
He also didn’t rule out that establishing diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey could happen before the end of this year.
“The entire international community helps normalize the Armenian-Turkish relations: Russia, the EU, the U.S., and the countries of the region,” Pashinyan said.