April 27, 2009 - 22:17 AMT
If anyone has a right to set preconditions it must be Armenia, not Turkey
At today's news conference, ARFD parliamentarian Armen Roustamyan specified 5 major points of Armenia's domestic policy disapproved by Dashnaktsutyun.
"We may forget about the fact that Turkey spends huge sums on campaign directed against Genocide recognition in an effort to transfer Armenian Genocide recognition issue into the sphere of Armenian-Turkish relations," Roustamnyan said. The MP also noted that Dashnaktsutyun, as a pro-opposition force, will hereafter closely follow all processes, not allowing Armenian authorities to make any concessions with regard to Genocide issue.
"If anyone has a right to set preconditions it must be Armenia. With its diplomatic maneuvers, Turkey is attempting to incorporate preconditions into the texts of agreements. Under internationally accepted norms, we are entitled to rule out the possibility of any dialogue unless the Armenian-Turkish border is opened," Roustamyan added.
With regard to the party's further steps towards preventing early XX century history repetition, Roustamyan recommended that people who accuse Dashynaktsutyun of mistakes study history more closely. "If there are failures, they should be studied," he stressed. In response to another question concerning establishment of Russian-Turkish ties, he said, "It is necessary to prevent formation of pacts similar to Lenin-Ataturk alliance. If we do not take timely efforts in that direction, tomorrow it might be too late."