In his annual address on the occasion of April 24, Turkish President Erdogan remained “faithful” to the Turkish policy, and the Armenian Genocide is a tragedy that occurred during the First World War, as a result of which Armenian citizens of Turkey were killed. At the same time, Edoghan also stated that today Turkey guarantees the safety and full legal equality of its Armenian citizens. He concludes the message with a thought that seems to have a threatening outline.
“We believe that the way to protect future generations from the spiral of violence and war that surrounds the world is to build our future together in the light of the lessons we will learn from our shared pain,” Erdogan said. What lesson is it about and who should learn that lesson? The question is open, but Turkey is answering it with its current behavior. And that behavior, to put it mildly, painfully suggests that by “learning a lesson”, Erdogan means that the victims of the genocide should learn a lesson, and that “lesson” should be living with Turkey, on Turkey’s terms.
In any case, all of this stems from Turkey’s current behavior, which is entirely based on an ultimatum tone, and not only with direct execution, but also with the support of Azerbaijan, whose president Aliyev announced just the day before that for peace with Armenia, it is necessary that Armenia should also abandon the image of Mount Ararat on its coat of arms. During the three decades of its independence, Armenia has not been a claimant to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Turkey in any way.
Moreover, the presidents of Armenia have stated that Armenia cannot be a claimant, there are no legal grounds for it. Armenia has only voiced the need to recognize the historical fact, with the logic of forming mechanisms to prevent any risk of its recurrence. Armenia has always expressed its willingness to establish and regulate relations with Turkey without any preconditions. Moreover, with the protocols of 2009, Armenia expressed its willingness to discuss historical issues even within the framework of the intergovernmental commission through a subcommittee of historians.
However, the Prime Minister of Turkey at that time, and then the President Erdogan blocked the ratification of these protocols and started a more and more harsh policy. The fact that Armenia and Turkey should find a formula for regional coexistence and neighborhood is beyond doubt. There is no doubt that there should be bilateral work and effort in this direction. But, Turkey’s current behavior not only does not imply such work and effort, it does not even imply “indifference”. On the contrary, Turkey is working and making efforts in the direction of dictating and imposing the conditions for the exclusion of any potential of subjectivity on the Armenian side, where the issue on the table is not the question of relationship, but the regime and content of subordination.
#Erdogan #threatening
