In two days President Serzh Sargsyan will tour major Armenian communities abroad to explain and promote his far-reaching diplomatic overtures to Turkey which many in the Diaspora have been following with unease.
The President will visit Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Doni Rostov. It is known that the majority of our compatriots in the Diaspora are against the methods of regulating the Armenian-Turkish relations offered by Sargsyan. Some Diaspora leaders have expressed serious concern about key points of two Turkish-Armenian draft protocols envisaging the normalization of bilateral relations. After this, Serge Sargsyan probably is obvious to return to the motherland with the “complete” or “greatly” “support” or at least “comprehension” of the Diaspora. Hence, the force of the bless and support of the All Armenian Catholicos will also be propagated. They are particularly critical of the planned creation of a Turkish-Armenian panel of historians that would look into the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Diaspora groups also object to another protocol clause that commits Armenia to recognizing its existing border with Turkey. They argue that it would preclude future Armenian territorial claims to areas in eastern Turkey that were populated by their ancestors until the 1915-1918 massacres. President Sargsyan said that the process has entered a very important stage of public and political discussions. He also said that the unfolding discussions were very important since regardless of whether the protocols would be signed or not, ratified or not, they were an opportune occasion to speak about our relations and problems. We may assume that Sargsyan has difficult meetings ahead. But it will also be naïve to think that those can be open and free and that every Diaspora Armenian may freely express his/her opinion. Both Sargsyan and Kocharyan have had many meetings with Diaspora Armenians. And every time these visits are demonstrated with extremely positive interpretation. Only selected people have been invited to the meeting with the president, who have always had an extremely pro-government approach; advocated the political course of the president and only expressed words of delight. We won’t be mistaken to assume that the upcoming meetings of the president will be organized in the same manner. But this time, the theme presumes that the president may want to hear certain words of criticism and concerns on part of the Diaspora Armenians. Prior to these meetings we receive rumors from the Diaspora that the Armenians are quite furious and frustrated about the policy of Sargsyan and are impatiently waiting for him. Indeed, in Armenia they are also well aware of these moods and they will do their best to avoid unwanted surprises and to ensure that the meetings proceed in a “constructive” environment. Nevertheless, yesterday we tried to get informed on how the traditional parties of the Diaspora – the ARF, Ramkavar party and the Henchak party are preparing for the meetings. Will these parties hold protest actions or will suffice themselves only through question and answer sessions. Or what expectations do they have from these meetings? The chairman of the Ramkavar party Harutyun Arakelyan said that they have already discussed within the party through a conference call on how should participate in the meeting with Sargsyan in each of the scheduled cities. Two days ago the Ramkavars together with the two other parties held a meeting in Los Angeles aimed at opposing the pre-signed protocols on the regulation of the Turkey-Armenia relations. According to Arakelyan the Diaspora is concerned about the contents of the protocols and the pre-conditions imposed by them. “If it becomes possible to revise the protocols then maybe certain discussions will take place. But as this opportunity doesn’t exist at the moment we don’t have an alternative but to delay the signing of the document for the time being. Maybe after these meetings Sargsyan will decide to take a timeout. Today we are the ones that resolve this issue but it is the issue of the upcoming generations as well,” says Arakelyan. But if these meetings don’t give any results, especially when it’s known that on October 10 they will sign one of the pre-signed protocols in Switzerland will the Ramkavars take rougher steps. Aren’t they the ones, who are saying that there are questions in the documents, which relate to the Diaspora Armenians? Arakelyan is against the impeachment of the President. “If need everything is possible but I don’t think it’s going to be come so extreme. It is extremely difficult to demand the impeachment of a president of a warring country and it is not characteristic to the Ramkavars to be radical or perilous. But if they leave us no choice I don’t even want to imagine what is going to happen,” says Arakelyan. Don’t these meetings have an imitational character especially if those are going to signed soon and it will be impossible to change anything in those and Edward Nalbandyan has stated this as well? The representative of another traditionalist party Dashnaktsutyun Kiro Manoyan is although sure that Sargsyan’s meetings will not prevent the signing of the documents or it will be impossible to change those, but he thinks that these will have their impact in the future. “In the stage of ratification I think it will influence. There is no need for ratification. Our legislation doesn’t demand that. During this process if Turkey tries to link the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations with the NKR the Armenian president may be stricter,” says Manoyan. In his words, it is because of the pressure of the Diaspora that the President decided to go meet them. Prior to that, he has entrusted this responsibility to the ambassadors. “The 2/3 of our people live in the Diaspora and there are points in these protocols, which also relate to the Armenians of the Diaspora. We all got things to say especially if we are accepting compromises at the expense of future generations,” says Manoyan. Among the traditional parties the strictest standpoint as the Henchak party. “I don’t exclude that there will be organizations, parties, which will accept the invitation but it still doesn’t mean that they consider Serzh Sargsyan a president. I think more criticism will be addressed to him than applauses and welcome words. Because of the lack of legitimacy he is trying to meet the wishes of those countries, which more or less wish to negotiate. And he feels very good about that and doesn’t think much about the consequences,” says Lyudmila Harutyunyan.
