– The ARF has announced that it will organize actions of protest if the Turkish president Abdullah Gul accepts the Armenian president’s invitation to visit Armenia to watch the football play on September 6. What actions will you organize?
– It is not correct to say that it will be action of protest. We will use that opportunity to bring up the issues we are interested in. However we should not forget the fact that we are the hosting party and we should show a great hospitability to them. On the other hand there should not be any other activities threatening the reputation of our country. The game should proceed normally but also we should not let them think that we have forgotten about our problems. No one wants to ask how Turkey may use the opportunity if we don’t bring up the issue of the Genocide during Gul’s visit to Armenia. In such case Turkey may say that during their president’s visit no organization addressed the issue of the Genocide thus it is not so important to us. We believe that we should not let it happen and this is what we think is the best choice.
– How are you going to remind Turkey or Gul about this issue?
– We will do that politely and we will hold actions and demonstrations to show our slogans to Gul and remind him about the problems connected with the Armenian-Turkish relations that we are interested in now. Turkey should have understood that if they don’t recognize the Genocide they will undermine the Armenian-Turkish relations, Turkey’s role in the region and its integration with Europe. Furthermore, these problems concern not only the Armenian-Turkish relations but also they are out of the inter-governmental relations. We should be able to show that the regulation of the Armenian-Turkish relations is such a big issue that is out of the scope of our bilateral relations. Its importance is also connected with the current process of Turkey’s integration with Europe. We will address these issues in a polite manner. It can’t be viewed as inadequate or impolite approach to them.
– Have your coalition colleagues, especially the RPA, expressed discontent about your initiative?
– Maybe separate people have different opinions, but none of them have expressed such discontent yet. By the way, instead of understanding that this is about our honor and respect some of them are even trying to cast shadow on our initiatives. We understand that it is sport but we also know that sport is politicized too. If they are delaying their answer to the invitation it means that they want to use this opportunity for certain purposes as well. It is clear that it will not be a visit to watch the game only. The ARF is the party which has always protected the Armenian issue throughout our history. We have never let a place for anyone to think that our party keeps loyal to extremism, no one can say that we are attaching much extreme importance to the issue of Armenian Genocide to the extent of making it dangerous to our nation. No. There are two approaches, one of which is totally unacceptable for us. It is unacceptable to try to develop relations without seeing our problems.
– Abdullah Gul has been invited by president Serzh Sargsyan, and the ARF has made a coalition with them and is a part of that government. Don’t you think that your initiatives may fall into contradiction with the president’s activities?
– We are not against the invitation, thus the purpose of our initiatives is to solve the problems connected with the Armenian-Turkish relations. Once Gul announces about his decision to come to Armenia we will specify all the actions to be organized by us. We will be ready. Also certainly we will encourage and help our team morally to win.
P.S. We interviewed Armen Rustamyan on Wednesday, when the play between the Armenian and Turkish young football teams had not taken place yet.