By Artur Hakobyan

Turkey’s Minister for EU Affairs, Egemen Bagis, responded obnoxiously to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s statement that one day Turkey’s leaders will bow before the Armenian Genocide Memorial in capital Yerevan.  

In his response, Bagis did not reflect on the Genocide issue, and, despite being a minister of Turkey, which keeps under poverty the Kurds living in its eastern parts, reserved himself the right to speak about Armenia’s “bad” social conditions.    

The Turkish minister also addressed the Armenian President in the informal form of address, and, putting himself in the place of a statistics specialist, noted the number of people who left Armenia because of dire conditions, but forgetting that, in line with the data published in the Turkish press, as a result of inaction by the Turkish authorities, one month after the earthquake in Van city, 70 thousand citizens had requested, in two days alone, to leave their city.      

To note, while recently addressing the Marseille City Hall, President Sargsyan had said: “Turkey must face its past and reconsider approaches toward the Armenian Genocide. Our position has not changed. We are ready to have relations with Turkey as a neighboring state. Chancellor Willy Brandt came on his knees before the Warsaw Ghetto, admitting his country’s guilt. Sooner or later Turkey, which considers itself a European state, will have reputable leaders, and they will bow their heads before Tsitsernakaberd [the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan]”.