Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg announced that she will not be present at the ceremony commemorating the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, highlighting that Norway puts value on relations with Turkey, only the ambassador will be able to participate. Aravot.am talked with turkologist Ruben Melkonyan on this matter. He said that for several times we became convinced that in the context of the Armenian Genocide issue, true political interests and universal ethical standards encounter each other.
However, often the true political interests dominate or come out as winners. “It is natural that ahead to the 100th anniversary and the April 24 events, Turkey will try to further emphasize its geopolitical importance by different styles, especially followed by the western style, bribing and rousing the interest for different states and international organizations not to attend the events hosted in Armenia or attend the 100th anniversary of the Dardanelles battle, it is common. It is sad that a prosperous and neutral country like Norway can be given to Turkey’s intrigues. In this case, the true political interests won for Norway, and, unfortunately, a pretty bad stigma was put to the Norwegian democracy, because in fact they made a step backwards in terms of moral standards,” he said.
