False information is provided to the public by the authorities. Touching upon the statements made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the press conference today, professor of historical sciences and Turkologist Ruben Melkonyan said at the Hayeli press club. According to him, the idea that Armenia has never presented land claims to Turkey, and it continues that line and now Armenia has no land claims, is false.
“Yes, the Republic of Armenia has not presented a land claim to Turkey, but Armenia has never recognized the 1921 Treaty of Kars. Turkey’s demand so far is not to recognize Turkey’s integrity, but to recognize the Kars Treaty.” According to Ruben Melkonyan, all three RA presidents did not recognize the Kars agreement. “It is an illegal contract, because in 1921, the signatories were not internationally recognized states – Turkey and Bolshevik Russia. The Kars agreement is full of illegalities, in particular, Ani, Surmalu, and other territories were annexed to Turkey without any legal justification.”
According to Melkonyan, the Soviet Union sometimes stated that the agreement was illegal. “Even Stalin declared at the time that the treaty was signed at a time when the Soviet Union was weak. Armenia continues to hold that belief. And we did not recognize the Treaty of Kars. But we have not stated that we do not recognize Turkey’s current borders. In other words, Armenia does not have a land claim, but Armenia does not recognize the illegal Kars agreement. ”
Turkologist Ruben Melkonyan
According to Ruben Melkonyan, Turkey has tried in different years to recognize the Kars agreement and legalize the lands seized illegally. “It is true that Armenia does not have the opportunity to return the lands, but Armenia, as a dignified state, can declare that it does not recognize the agreement, which is based on legal illegality.”
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The Turkologist is convinced that one of Turkey’s preconditions today is for Armenia to recognize the Kars agreement, and the current authorities say there is no problem, and the previous authorities did not make any demands. As for the issue of the Armenian Genocide, which according to Pashinyan is the issue of recognition of the Diaspora and the Armenian Cause, this issue has always been on the agenda of independent Armenia since the 1990s and most importantly, it is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.
“Different countries have recognized the Armenian Genocide for 30 years. Now it would be strange to say that it has nothing to do with the state of Armenia, and that the Diaspora and various structures are engaged in its recognition.” According to Ruben Melkonyan, it is also a great lie that Armenia has recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and Artsakh will never be Armenia.
“Armenia has recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan without Artsakh. This is clearly explained in various statements, including Robert Kocharyan’s statement that Artsakh, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, exercising its rights as citizens of the Soviet Union and with or before Azerbaijan, left the Soviet Union. In other words, when independent Azerbaijan left, Nagorno Karabakh was not a part of it. Therefore, when we recognize independent Azerbaijan, we can not recognize Artsakh as part of it, because Artsakh was not legally part of it. And to manipulate that all the previous authorities recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, that is, Artsakh, is false.” He asks a question: if we had recognized it, then why didn’t the Azeris take Artsakh?
Lusine BUDAGHYAN
