On Aug. 31, protocols on the establishment and development of relations between the republics of Armenia and Turkey were officially announced. Armenia and Armenians entered a new phase, which is encumbered with numerous threats and danger.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) warned about these concerns from the onset of the political process by intermittently expressing the following positions:
— As neighboring states, Armenia and Turkey are bound to take steps to normalize relations. However, good neighborly relations can be established between the two countries only when Turkey recognizes the Armenian Genocide and reestablishes the rights of the Armenian people. The establishment of relations without preconditions and the lifting of the blockade are merely first steps.
— The proposal by Armenia to establish relations without preconditions can be deemed a serious concession.
— It is unacceptable to establish relations with Turkey at the expense of our government’s sovereignty and viability, as well as the national rights of our future generations.
Based on these principles, the ARF on several occasions cautioned that Turkey was leveraging the process to benefit its own interests—impeding the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, advancing a pro-Azeri resolution to the Nargorno-Karabagh conflict) and was communicating with Armenia through both obvious and veiled preconditions.
Published documents contain the well-known preconditions of the Turkish side, that is, to call into question the veracity of the Armenian Genocide and to invalidate the unwavering rights of the Armenian people. Furthermore, immediately following the release of the protocols, Turkey, through official statements, reiterated its third precondition: It will not undertake any steps that would contradict Azerbaijan’s interests. This means that Turkey will continue to use the Karabagh issue as a precondition.
The ARF continues to insist that Armenia’s foreign policy has veered from its national doctrine and predictable developments will have irreversible consequences.
With these considerations, during this domestic deliberation stage, the ARF will utilize all means available to expose the existing dangers within the protocols in an effort to neutralize them.
We call on the Armenian people and the political forces in Armenia to properly assess the Armenia-Turkey relations process with its negative consequences and, in the most unified manner, deter the possible irreversible losses.
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Sept. 1, 2009
Yerevan, Armenia
