After the US House of Foreign Affairs adopted the Resolution 106 on the Armenian Genocide information has been circulated that the Turkish government has arrested 100 Armenian citizens, who have violated the visa regime of Turkey.
The Advisor to the Prime Minister of Turkey has already announced that Turkey is going to apply sanctions against Armenia and the Turkish government has already prepared a work-plan and timeline of those sanctions and Prime Minister Erdoghan has already given the necessary orders. There is information that the government of Turkey may cancel Istanbul-Yerevan flights and in general close the air border with Armenia. The government of Turkey may even not allow about 4 thousand trucks run to Armenia through its territory (the trade circulation of Armenia with Turkey is about 90 million USD annually). On the contrary of the threatening statements of the Turkish Prime Minister Kiro Manoyan, director of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Bureau Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office, stated at the Pastark Club that none of Turkish high-ranking officials mentioned a definite sanction to apply in case the U.S. House affirms the resolution on the Armenian genocide. “The only thing they said is an anti-American public opinion will be shaped in Turkey that they cannot prevent, and an anti-Jewish public opinion that they cannot prevent. All the rest is the opinion of analysts, including the statements about sanctions on Armenia,” Kiro Manoyan says. As to air communication, Kiro Manoyan says the air border was blocked during the war but they opened it soon because it harmed Azerbaijan more than Armenia since flights between Azerbaijan and Turkey were affected. With regard to the third possible sanction, expulsion of Armenian citizens from Turkey, Kiro Manoyan says the number of citizens who were arrested for visa problems was not as big as the international media reported, besides, this sanction is applied not only against Armenian nationals but also against all the other foreigners who have problems with their visa. Over ten congressmen, both Republicans and Democrats, have withdrawn their signatures supporting the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H. Res. 106), the “New York Times” reports. In the result, the number of the congressmen backing the measure has reduced. “The adoption of the resolution will break off USA-Turkey relations. Obviously, the congressmen withdrew signatures under the pressure of the White House. But there is no need to panic,” Manoyan said. Kiro Manoyan is confident that H. Res. 106 will be adopted at the plenary session of the US House of Representatives, and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi will move ahead with a vote on a resolution. According to Manoyan despite the fact that the document is not legally binding Turks are scared that Armenians can use it to pressure on them. Will it be Armenia or Diaspora to demand anything from Turkey? “I think our claims or our right to have claims have nothing to do with the passage of the resolution. Generally, our rights have nothing to do with the recognition or the denial of the resolution. Our rights do not begin or end with the Genocide,” Kiro Manoyan says. “Because the main document is the agreement signed in Sevres, and the agreement of Sevres was signed by the state, we view the Republic of Armenia as the heir of the first republic, so Armenia is supposed to claim rights. Besides, the Armenian people, individually not collectively, also have problems with Turkey. It should also be presented in the right capacity, by some organization, with government support, not to damage the interests of the country,” Kiro Manoyan says. According to him, the Genocide is a means of keeping the Armenian issue alive, and conveying it to the international community in a language that they understand. Kiro Manoyan says the Armenian people will not tolerate a government which will give up claims to Turkey. “Armenia says we are not raising such an issue now, but it does not mean that tomorrow we won’t,” he said. “Instead of saying that we have no claims regarding the territories, instead of thinking that if it is recognized that Armenians used to live there, and now not because Turkey implemented a policy and is therefore responsible, instead of putting it this way they decided that it is more expedient, more timely, and unfortunately it still is, to raise the issue of the genocide, without giving up the other issues,” Manoyan says. "If there was a political will, such pre-condition would have been put forward," he said. When asked if Turkey would continue to press the Bush administration with an aim to affect the outcome of the vote, Manoyan said that the White House had already applied pressure on a resolution, which is not a legal act but just a political document. To the question why the powerful Armenian lobby wasn’t able to ensure that in the annual report of the US State Department the provision about “occupied territories of Karabagh” is cut Manoyan said, “It is quite clear that this provision of the State Department report wouldn’t be approved by the government elite of the US because this requires certain time and lots of efforts to be made. I don’t wish to claim the opposite not to look like a gossip.”