Hilda Tchoboian: Turkish-Armenian protocols unanimously rejected

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Protocols on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey, which were initiated under Swiss mediation earlier this year, are vehemently opposed by the Armenians worldwide, EAJFD reported.



The "Votch" (No) petition, which is open to "all who uphold human dignity", was initiated by philologist Krikor Beledian, essayist Janine Altounian, journalists Arpig Missakian and Arpi Totoyan, historian Yves Ternon of France, Professor Mihran Dabag, Director of the German Research Institute on Diasporas and Genocides of Bochum University, and American professor Roger Smith, former Chairman of the International Association of Genocides Scholars.



The petition, which is online at www.votch.org, has received signatures from residents in nearly 30 countries and the campaign is rapidly growing. The petition states that "to submit such a unique experience as genocide to negotiations and a judgment by governmental commissions or sub-commissions would subordinate the truth to political maneuvers and power relations". The document therefore considers that "by the signing of these protocols, Armenia marginalizes the Diaspora, and enters into the strategy of the Turkish State to divide the Armenian people and to stigmatize and delegitimize the Diaspora for advocating the consciousness of the Genocide".



The text concludes that "these protocols an effort of the Turkish State to impose on the economically vulnerable Republic of Armenia its distorted vision of history from which the Republic of Turkey was formed and which is consubstantial with it" and "call upon all those who uphold human dignity to express their rejection of these agreements which endanger the integrity of the Armenian people".



"The Armenians worldwide welcome the "Votch" Petition. The Turkish Armenian protocols are blatant infringements on the memory of the Armenian Genocide and the dignity of its victims," stated Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European Armenian Federation.



"The Turkish State is attempting to make its denial policy legitimate by embedding it in a legally binding document that would have far-reaching consequences not only for the Republic of Armenia, but for Armenians worldwide," added Tchoboian. "It is therefore incumbent upon the Armenian Diaspora to make their position clear to the Republic of Armenia that surrendering to Turkey's intransigent position would establish a profound division between the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora," concluded Tchoboian.