“I notice that the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where there is no interference from the Prime Minister’s Office, is taking the right steps in the autonomous regime,” former NA Vice Speaker Ara Sahakyan said at a news conference at the Hayeli press club on March 4 regarding the discussions by the parliamentary opposition about the Shushi Declaration ratified by Azerbaijan and Turkey and the position expressed by the RA Foreign Ministry a year ago.
Ara Sahakyan is convinced that the second sphere of activity is the army, which, according to the definition, will carry out its activities, getting rid of the ideas and activities of the ruling team and its leader. He is sure that the military will do its job and the army will be restored, otherwise the alternative will be the closure of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff. The speaker also noted that the judiciary has not raised its hands either; there is a complex and deaf resistance, and we must cling to these small, bright spots in order to protect the state. Ara Sahakyan spoke about the current stage of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, referring to the events during his tenure and his feelings.
NA Vice Speaker Ara Sahakyan
“When the Assembly of World Parliaments was held in Istanbul in 1997, I was the head of our delegation. I spoke and said, ‘I am glad to be in Istanbul, in Constantinople, which was the center of Byzantine, Armenian and Ottoman civilizations. The next day, Mustafa Talemli, the Speaker of the parliament, invited me to the parliament. He did not explicitly say that his invitation was related to my controversial assertion about him. He said that they are very inclined to normalize relations with us, we are historical neighbors, and Armenians live in Istanbul and other cities. A corresponding answer was received. We are divided, each of us in our opinion, but let me say that the greatness of the states, cities, their splendor and brightness, are confusing. It seems to me that these authorities… because they are like that in many issues as well,” Ara Sahakyan said, noting that the current authorities do not have deep insights into the Armenian-Turkish relations and the possibilities of their normalization.
He asks the authorities to be careful and always remember the paternal saying that “the Turkish language is sweet” during the negotiations, and there is a whole story behind that sweetness. He does not think that one should live with that history; moreover, he thought that history is not a good reminder for practical policy, but he notes that in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, historical arguments came unexpectedly and it turns out that in the new world order, history can be decisive and the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, at least as a means of satisfying our desires, can not be ignored. He believes that today, for us, under some circumstances, history will become the right guide.
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Having been to Kars and Ani several times, having toured there, having been acquainted in detail with the rest of the Armenian cultural heritage, its transformations, and new performances, or with the daily life of Turkey, he came to the conclusion that yes, there are things in Turkey that we have not achieved yet. In some parts of Turkey, we are also inferior in terms of politeness and it is wrong to accept Turkey as a country where you have been on a business trip for a few days and you have been very well received. The speaker is of the opinion that this government should leave, as the negative manifestation of its activity took place in 2020 and is still going on, and it should be stopped.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
