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 GLENDALE—The
Armenian Youth Federation-Western Region Thursday issued an
announcement, in which it expresses its opposition to the
protocols on the establishment and development of relations
between Armenia and Turkey and urges the Armenian government to
abandon the ill-fated process.
Below is the complete text
of the announcement:
The Armenian Youth
Federation – Western Region stands in complete opposition to the
so-called “Protocols for the Establishment of Diplomatic
Relations Between Armenia and Turkey.”
We find the Protocols’
repeated emphasis on “territorial integrity,” “the inviolability
of frontiers,” and the dogma that current state boundaries must
be maintained—without any mention of people’s right to
self-determination—to be a dangerous reversal of Armenia’s
diplomatic support for the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic. Any hope that Armenia can negotiate successfully in
the interests of Nagorno Karabakh has been compromised with the
announcement of this document.
Further, we find the
provision requiring “recognition of the existing border between
the two countries” to be an illegitimate surrendering of the
Armenian people’s legal and rightful claims to our historic
homeland. Adoption of such a binding document would amount to an
official acceptance of our criminal dispossession at the hands
of Turkey during the Armenian Genocide and a direct blow to the
long-fought struggle for justice and restitution.
Additionally, we find the
Protocols’ intention to create a “sub-commission on the
historical dimension” in order to carry out a purported
“scientific examination of the historical records” to be morally
reprehensible and detrimental to the interests of the Armenian
nation. Such an initiative is clearly a ploy to cast doubt on
the veracity of the Armenian Genocide and roll back the growing
tide of international recognition of this crime against
humanity.
The Armenian government’s
acceptance of such a provision would effectively make it an
accomplice in Turkey’s age-old campaign to distort the
overwhelming scholarly consensus confirming the Armenian
Genocide.
Contrary to the initial
claims of the administration that normalization would occur
without preconditions, the above-mentioned provisions are only a
few of the many unacceptable points in the Protocols which
demonstrate a capitulation to Turkey’s longstanding
anti-Armenian demands. The ending of Turkey’s illegal blockade
should not come at this cost of signing away Armenia’s security,
viability and future.
We call on President Serzh
Sargsyan to immediately withdraw his administration’s
participation in these Protocol negotiations. We find these
actions to be a setback for our people and believe they should
be rejected by all those who aspire to secure the interests of
the Armenian Republic.
We call on the Armenian
Nation, those within the Republic and in the Diaspora, to
express their opposition to this dangerous proposal and take
immediate action to prevent the Armenian government from signing
on to these Protocols.
As Armenian youth, we
pledge to do everything in our power to defend our people’s
national interests and prevent these Protocols from being pushed
through.
In the
revolutionary spirit,
Armenian Youth Federation –Western Region
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