Exactly a year ago the president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan during his meeting with the representatives of the Armenian Diaspora in New York stated that we should help Turkey to become more objective about its own history. “Now we have to think about what we should do to help Turkey page its own history in a more objective manner and that is the society, which went out on the streets in thousands with posters, reading “we are all Hrant Dink,” “We are all Armenians.” Has the society of Turkey become mature enough so that we could affect its history to become more objective? “Turkey is in the process of becoming more mature about making its history more objective and the establishment of friendly relations with Armenia will help them even more,” says the deputy-head of the Republican Party of Armenia, NA MP Razmik Zohrabyan, by reminding that the protocols signed between the two countries reads, “launch a dialog between the two peoples aimed at restoring the trust and friendliness between each other.” “This speaks of the fact that both of the sides will work for the sake of the initiative in order to make Turkey become more objective about its history,” thinks Zohrabyan. According to him, the direct communication between the Armenian and Turkish people may influence on changes, which are taking place within the Turkish society, which may lead to the point of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide on part of Turkey. “The intergovernmental committee will consist of 6-7 subcommittees – economic, cultural, etc. When these two nations start communicating at all levels an environment of trust will be created. And due to this environment in the future (I don’t know how far in the future) it may become possible that Turkey realizes that the genocide took place and it my recognize it. But many countries have already recognized the Armenian Genocide as the first one in the century in order to prevent further genocides. And this process will continue regardless of whether the relations are normalized with Turks or not,” says Zohrabyan. Secretary of the NA Prosperous Armenian faction Aram Safaryan also thinks that the regulation of the Armenian-Turkish relations will stimulate the process of Armenian-Turkish relations. He quoted the statement of their party relating to the recent developments of Armenian-Turkish relations released by the Prosperous Armenia party on Saturday. It reads that in the protocols, “the main principles of regulation of Turkish-Armenian relations considered by the Prosperous Armenia party are reflected.” “We think that the establishment of talks and relations between the Armenian and Turkish people without pre-conditions will cause the recognition of the Armenian Genocide on part of Turkey. It may change the mentality of the Turkish people. We find it less realistic that this issue can be solved through rough methods and harsh statements,” reads the statement. The secretary of the ARF faction Artashes Shahbazyan thinks that Armenia should take into account the fact that the Turkish society is gradually changing. It means that 10 years ago the collision of these approaches would be impossible. Has the signing of the protocols between Turkey and Armenia conduced to this change? “The protocols are not aimed at revealing the reality. That’s why I think it cannot be this way,” as a response to our question mentioned Shahbazyan. A representative of the ANC, former chairman of the NA standing committee on foreign relations Hovhannes Igityan also thinks that there were certain changes in the society of Turkey and today there is debate regarding the Armenian genocide. “I don’t think that Serzh Sargsyan or our society can be any more useful to these processes. It is another thing that the politicization of the issue and the attempts of linking of the matter with the NKR issue may become a serious obstacle within the Turkish society in the formation of normal opinions within the Turkish society,” mentioned Igityan and added, “Taking into account the statements of the top statesmen of Turkey, who claim that the process is connected with the NKR conflict, I have a fear that the process of normalization will end up as usual. We will end up in a worse shape in terms of societies.”
