Main Thing for Turkish Armenians is Not to Harm Relations with Government

PanARMENIAN.Net - Archbishop Mesrop Mutafian must make a statement in the name of the Armenian community of Istanbul, since he is the leader of the community, commented Ruben Safrastian, the head of the Oriental Studies Institute of NAS (National Academy of Sciences) to the PanARMENIAN.Net journalist on Archbishop's letter to the EU leaders. The letter says that it is necessary to continue the negotiations with Turkey. In Safrastian's words, the main thing for the Armenian Constantinople Eparchy is not to harm the relations with Turkish government.



At the same time he stressed that Turkey's policy towards Armenia is a policy of expectancy. "Turkey thinks that Armenia sooner or later will agree to normalize the Turkish-Armenian relations without preconditions, the most important of which is the acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. I want to remind that in 1991 Turkish President Süleyman Demirel recognized Armenia's independence, underlining that he does not recognize the foreign policy course of the country aimed at international acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide," underscored the head of the Oriental Studies Institute of NAS.