Inviting Turkish President to Armenia was balanced step: Ara Gochunyan

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. It’s natural that advancing the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide the discussions dedicated to the Armenian question will be intensified both among the Armenians and the Turks. Notwithstanding, those discussions do not guarantee that there will be positive shifts regarding the issue by April 24, 2014. The Editor-in-Chief of the Istanbul-based Armenian periodical Ara Gochunyan stated this in an interview to “Armenpress” News Agency.

- During the recent months, the visits of a row of Turkish intellectuals to Armenia have shown that there is a problem of understanding and being understood by each other both in the Armenian and Turkish sides. In Your opinion, what can help us to fix this issue at least to some extent?

- If I try to give a shot answer, I’ll say – time. A serious political will is necessary to settle these problematic relations. And that will must be on the state level to conduct the process of regulation on much firmer basis. But as the Armenian-Turkish relations are not merely irregular, but also bear the burden of the failed Zurich protocols and deep atmosphere of lack of confidence, the states have only a limited opportunity to take the initiative. In these conditions the process continues predominantly on the societal level, which, naturally, can have encouraging expressions, but we have to accept that the public dialogue cannot replace the relations between states.

- Yet in May, the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan announced that he invites the Turkish President to Armenia on April 24, 2015. In Your opinion, will any high ranking Turkish official visit Armenia, even not on the presidential level, next year on April 24?

- The invitation of President Serzh Sargsyan was a very constructive and balanced initiative. Armenia’s peaceful approaches have been precisely expressed; the importance Armenia attaches to the co-existence of the two neighbors and that we look at future. The public dialogue was shaken by the handicapped state relations after the failure of the Zurich protocols.

Only after seeing the impact of the Armenian side’s initiatives and encountering with the international family’s attitude, the Turkish side will make up its mind to visit Armenia or not, and if yes, on what level.(THE FULL VERSION OF THE INTERVIEW IS AVAILABLE IN ARMENIAN)

Interview by Araks Kasyan