In the interview with Aravot.am, political analyst Gagik Hambaryan said that no impression should be made that our claim from Turkey is only moral, we have a lost historic homeland, cultural values, and a huge wealth, and our claim should not be but also material. According to the political analyst, the time to be delighted with moral victories has passed, now it is the time to be seriously prepared for the material victory. “We still do not know what we want. We act with the task to recognize the Genocide internationally, we demand the same Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide, but do not know what we are going to do with the recognized genocide after the recognition of the genocide. If the Jews were subjected to genocide during World War II, they acquired their own country that they did not have over 2000 years and until now, they receive tremendous cash from Germany in the form of reparation.
As far as I know, the money rendered already exceeds 1.5 trillion dollars, which Germany pays the State of Israel over these 65 years and continues to pay. The problem is as follows: well, if we demand recognition of the genocide, then later on, what demands we should put on Turkey. Unlike the Jews, who were subjected to genocide in Europe, which is not their homeland, we have lost most part of our historic homeland – the Western Armenia. In addition, we have lost our cultural heritage – a large number of churches, monasteries, and valuable items, who should return them? … We have to be prepared to all of this long time ago. Turkey is repeatedly declaring that its archives are open to everyone, but it is a lie. Specifically, in 2005, the Turkish State Cadaster Agency had published the property of the Turkish population and posted on the websites, but there is absolutely no information about the properties belonging to Armenians before 1925. It is a state secret. Can you imagine the Turks to reveal what Armenians had in Turkey and in whose hands those properties are?
I will illustrate two vivid examples. The former presidential residency of Turkey in Ankara was a possession of an Armenian, the American “Incirlik” military base that is located near Adana – these territories belonged to several Armenian families. Now, can you imagine that if these Armenian families receive deciphered cadastral data from Turkey they can sue and demand not only a reparation for the lost property, but also for the fact that Turkey has gained millions of dollars from these territories by leasing the military base to the Americans? Such problems exists, and we, unfortunately, do not have professional experts on international law who should work on such documents by the order of our government and what claims should be presented to Turkey by the Armenian side after the recognition. I do not want to create an impression that we are asking only for a moral apologize from the Turks. Absolutely. What moral apologies? They have owned a large part of our historic homeland, they have stolen our wealth. Enough, until now we are guided by moral victories, now it’s time to achieve material victories and rejoice with it as it happened during the Artsakh war.”
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According to political analyst, a big headache is expected when returning the territories, where more than 15 million Kurds are living. During the years of the Armenian genocide, the Turks had promised them our historic homeland with a precondition, “You liberate these territories from gâvurs and become the lord and the master of all of it.” The Kurds, according to the political analyst, diligently helped the Turks to destroy Armenians.
Now, the Kurds have become a headache for the Turkish government, it goes without saying that they would also become a headache for Armenians. “We need to have a solution for the Kurds living in Western Armenia, they represent a big threat to us. The historic Kurdistan is located in the south of Western Armenia, and I should note that in the Sevres Treaty, which was signed on 10 August 1920 between the Ottoman Empire defeated in World War I and the “Entente” alliance, the borders of Kurdistan were also marked. We can go to compromise later and allow the Kurds to be moved out from the Western Armenia with their belongings and settle down in their homeland. Although I must note that the Kurdish organizations operating in Turkey, the most popular of which is the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in its maps where they depict the future Kurdistan, includes not only the Western Armenia but also other areas of the Eastern Armenia, which is absolutely not in our interests and needs to be solved,” says the political analyst.
Nune AREVSHATYAN
