AAA LEADER: US WILL DO WHAT OTHERS HAVE DONE IN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net - In the issue of acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide the US will do what other countries have done some time or later, Armenian Assembly of America Executive Director Ross Vartian stated, the Milliyet Turkish newspaper reported. "France has recognized the Genocide, however it did not damage the Turkish-French relations at all," he added. He considered senseless the proposals to submit the genocide issue for discussion, grounding it with the historians having discussed it long ago and have come to a certain conclusion. Answering the question that "genocide is merely the problem of the Diaspora," Ross Vartian noted, "the acknowledgement of the Genocide is one of priority tasks of Armenia's foreign policy. Some 1 million people visit the Memorial of the victims of the Genocide victims April 24 each year - this makes 1/3 of the population of Armenia. We - the Diaspora representatives - are not hostile towards the Turkish people." Answering the questions referring to the territorial integrity of Turkey and the Armenian-Turkish relations, Ross Vartian did not deny that the acknowledgement of the Genocide will have certain consequences for Turkey. Simultaneously, he noted, "however the definition of the consequences of the acknowledgement of the Genocide does not concert the Diaspora. It is the affair of Yerevan and Ankara. As of the land demands, the authorities of Armenia have made an unilateral statement on respecting the territorial integrity of Turkey." "Armenia and Turkey should be able to discuss all problems available. It is necessary to open the borders. The acknowledgement of the Genocide is not a precondition to settlement of the relations between Yerevan and Ankara and it cannot be. The sound dialogue is important. The Genocide will be recognized when the Turkish people themselves want it and make the Turkish Government do it, but not under pressure from the outside. Turkey is being gradually reconstructed, challenges the history, otherwise Orhan Pamuk would have not been able to make a public statement on the murder of 1 million Armenians," he stated.