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YEREVAN (Yerkir)—The
Supreme Council of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation on
Tuesday kicked off its month-long protest against the protocols
on establishment and development of relations between Armenia
and Turkey, with a hunger strike and sit at the Armenian Foreign
Ministry and government headquarters.
As 24 ARF members (the number 24 symbolizes
April 24) began the hunger strike at the foreign ministry, some
60 members began a sit-in at the government building. Chanting
“No Concessions to Turkey!” and “Nalabandian must Resign” the
protesters also initiated a petition campaign against the
protocols, and will collect signatures from passers by at the
high-traffic Republic Square.
Photo Gallery
ARF Supreme Council of
Armenia chairman Armen Rustamian told those gathered outside
that the sit-in and the hunger strike would continue until
provisions of the protocols are amended.
“These demonstrations are
meant to reject the pre-conditions forced on us, and demand that
the provisions of the document that jeopardize Armenian
interests are reviewed,” Rustamian said. “No matter how hard the
government is trying to say that there are no pre-conditions in
the document, we believe they serve only Turkish interests. They
say the Kars Treaty is not mentioned in the protocols; then why
does it say that we have to recognize the current boundaries?
These borders are described only in the 1921 Kars Treaty, no
other treaty speaks of the borders.”
“We demand that
authorities include proposed changes in Protocols. These
documents are anti-Armenian and cannot be signed in their
current format. We’ll continue the protest and hunger strike
unless all our proposals are considered,” echoed ARF
parliamentary bloc member Artyusha Shahbazyan said.
ARF Bureau member and
parliamentary bloc leader Vahan Hovannesian, said the that the
authorities have agreed to this agreement because they did not
realize the inherent dangers and did not pay attention to the
consequences of their actions.
“Officials also have
national responsibilities; they are responsible for our future
generations,” said Hovannesian.
The Bureau member said
that the party has not abandoned its calls for foreign minister
Eduard Nalbandian’s resignations, saying that while in Turkey
the authorities have undertaken an outreach to political forces
on the matter, in Armenia the efforts are the government are not
earnest.
“The public at-large is
not aware of the full scope of the developments,” said
Hovanessian.
ARF’s political affairs
director Giro Manoyan said the authorities had not intention of
amending the protocols.
“We are not given a chance
to present our concerns to the people,” he said. “There are two
key provisions that disturb us: the recognition of the borders
and the establishment of a commission tasked with addressing
historical issues that would enable Turkey to discuss the issue
of the Genocide.”
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