On April 24, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Erdoğan, reluctantly expressed his condolences and the Turkish side considers it quite sufficient to declare that they are expecting to see a “response actions” from the Armenian side. So, what? Should we also offer our condolence to the Turkish government for organizing the genocide? Insolence and cynicism in international relations, of course, is a common occurrence, but the Turkish authorities in this respect are perhaps record holders.
Armenian state’s response to this, in their language, “pointless” condolences may be only one: you are so peaceful, you’re so imbued with good will, then validate the Armenian-Turkish protocols, do not relate our relations with the third countries problems, put an end to blockade, open the borders, establish diplomatic relations with our country. And without your condolences, we will somehow get along with.
This is what, in my opinion, should be told at the state level. It is clear that no progress in the relations between Armenia and Turkey in this regard will be recoded. However, during this one year ahead to the 100th anniversary of Genocide, Turkey is interested to sham that there is some progress, while the “sponsors” of Zurich protocols would like one of the sides not to take any drastic steps towards rejection of these documents. For this reason, there will be a variety of events, meetings, seminars, round tables, contacts with intellectuals, experts, journalists, and so on.
Is it worth participating in them? Of course, each one of us has its own answer to this question. Some may express concern that the public institutions that are involved in these meetings and contacts, unwittingly contribute to the imitation beneficial to the Turkish side. On the other hand, for the Armenian society, in all cases, it is useful to know what the neighboring country community is thinking, and how they are living. It is important that the virtual and mythical “Turk” is replaced by a real, flash-and-blood Turk. Especially since we, unlike the Turkish “non-official” circles, are representing only ourselves in Armenia, and are not accountable to the authorities for our actions and words. The same can be said about the contacts with Azerbaijani public figures. Although, as shown by recent events, these contacts are dangerous. For Azerbaijani politicians.
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ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
