Turkish Minister for EU Affairs and General Negotiator, Volkan Bozkır, referring to the Armenian-Turkish relations, announced that everyone should live together, leaving behind what happened in the past. In this regard, Aravot.am talked to the political scientist, Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan. He obviously thinks that thus Turkey is trying everything to get rid of the Armenian issue as a factor of exerting political pressure on it. “The EU has been long ago and consistently pursuing for the Armenian issue be in the Turkish – European relations. And Turkey is constantly reminded of their crimes to Armenians and humanity in general, thereby trying to prevent Turkey’s influence in adjacent regions and especially in the Turkish-European relations.”
According to him, the Turkish authorities have done everything over the years for the Armenian issue as such factor be generally neutralized and be forgotten by Europe. According to him, this is why the Turkish side wants to use every opportunity to solve this problem facing thereto. “Over these years, Turkey failed doing it, and there are no grounds to insist that now, when Armenia and the whole civilized world is getting ready for the events marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey wants at this stage to get rid of this factor of being influenced.” As long as the crime has not received its sentence, and Turkey conducts a denial policy, the political scientist considers the Armenian – Turkishgood neighborly relations impossible.
According to him, with such statements Turkey simply wants to gain time and somehow to survive the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. However, Turkey clearly understands that it will not manage to evade discussing the Armenian Genocide. “During the coming one year, it is going to be one of the largest resonance processes in the region, and therefore, at this stage, Turkey is trying possibly to change the accents in this dialogue and try somehow to refrain from the responsibility. We all understand that Erdoğan’s condolence letter to the descendants of the genocide victims, basically, is a new mechanism of denial policy.”
Ami CHICHAKYAN
