The only way out of the present situation for Armenia is to withdraw its signature put to the Armenian-Turkish protocols, Vahan Hovhannisyan, Board member, Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) (ARF(D)), told a press conference on April 19.

He stressed that the Armenian-Turkish protocols “died long ago or are on the point of dying.” According to Hovhannisyan, the protocols are against Armenia’s interest and should be done away with. “This, however, does not mean we should put an end to end to our dialogue with Turkey, but the talks must not be conducted on the basis of documents that run counter to our interests,” he said. Hovhannisyan pointed out that Turkey entered into a dialogue with Armenia taking advantage of the panic within the Armenian ruling circles during the Russian-Georgian war, as well a of the grave economic situation. He also asked about the “reasonable time frame” indicated by the authorities, when Armenia will withdraw its signature. As to what will happen should Yerevan be the first to ratify the protocols, Hovhannisyan said: “Armenia will prove a complete failure then.”

Commenting on RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Washington, Hovhannisyan stressed that, despite the expectations, the visit did not answer the questions concerning the possibility of the U.S. recognizing the Armenian Genocide. “Serzh Sargsyan’s meetings in Washington left numerous questions open, but his visit can generally be regarded as positive,” Hovhannisyan said.

As regards the expectations from the Sargsyan-Medvedev meeting to be held in Moscow on April 20, he said: “I find it difficult to make any specific statements, but I can tell about my impressions of the international conference in Saint Petersburg with the participation of PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who arrived in the ‘northern capital’ accompanied by a rather large delegation, with many Turks among its members. The delegation even included a representative of the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is not actually on the world map. At the conference I had the impression that Russian representative were not, to put it mildly, supportive of the Armenian delegates’ approaches. The situation reached the point when the Russian representative that chaired the conference interrupted me by stating my speech was not in line with the agenda. I responded and stated that it is not only Georgia and Saakashvili that must be on the agenda.”

T.P.