ANCA: protocols withdrawal step in the right direction

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian issued a statement following the Armenian government's call to remove the ill-conceived Turkey-Armenia Protocols from Armenian parliament consideration.

"Withdrawing these flawed and failed Protocols from parliament represents a step in the right direction, one that needs to be followed immediately by the next logical step of withdrawing Armenia's signature from these Ankara-inspired accords," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

"As we stressed in 2009 - and as is painfully clear today - Armenia should never have signed these one-sided agreements. Once in place, despite Turkey's obvious lies and endless preconditions and manipulations, this farce was allowed to continue for far too long. Even through all of this, we remain encouraged that, despite Ankara's efforts - through the Protocols and other instruments of denial - to downgrade the Armenian Genocide from an unpunished international crime into a simple bilateral conflict, the Armenian people - in our homeland and diaspora - remain united in our resolve for a truthful and just resolution of the Armenian Genocide," Hamparian said.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan sent a letter to Chairman of the Armenian National Assembly Galust Sahakyan officially informing him of the withdrawal of the Turkey-Armenia Protocols from parliament consideration, citing "the lack of political will on the part of Turkey, the distortion of the letter and spirit of the protocols and the continuous attempts to pose preconditions. Parallel to that, on the threshold of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the policy of denial and revision of history gains new momentum."