Ankara is seriously frightened of lawsuit filed by heirs of Armenian Genocide victims

August 3, 2010 - 13:46 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkologist Artak Shakaryan said that the lawsuit filed against the Turkish government in the U.S. may become a serious precedent in the struggle for provision of contribution for the Armenian people’s losses.

Lawyers of the heirs of the Armenian Genocide victims should focus on the fact that Turkey has not fulfilled provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne, under which it was obliged to return the property of subjects of the Ottoman Empire, Shakaryan told a press conference in Yerevan.

“Though the U.S. cannot make Turkey answerable, nevertheless, a U.S. court may rule that Turkey has violated international law,” noted Shakaryan, adding that Turkey is seriously frightened of the lawsuit launch and did not expect the Armenian Diaspora to take certain steps.

Armenian-American lawyers filed a federal lawsuit on July 29 against the Turkish government and two banks seeking compensation for the heirs of Armenians whose property was seized nearly a century ago as they were driven from the Turkish Ottoman Empire.