AYF Western US Urges Withdrawal from Protocol Process

GLENDALE—The Armenian Youth Federation-Western Region Thursday issued an announcement, in which it expresses its opposition to the protocols on the establishment and development of relations between Armenia and Turkey and urges the Armenian government to abandon the ill-fated process.

Below is the complete text of the announcement:

The Armenian Youth Federation – Western Region stands in complete opposition to the so-called “Protocols for the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations Between Armenia and Turkey.”

We find the Protocols’ repeated emphasis on “territorial integrity,” “the inviolability of frontiers,” and the dogma that current state boundaries must be maintained—without any mention of people’s right to self-determination—to be a dangerous reversal of Armenia’s diplomatic support for the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Any hope that Armenia can negotiate successfully in the interests of Nagorno Karabakh has been compromised with the announcement of this document.

Further, we find the provision requiring “recognition of the existing border between the two countries” to be an illegitimate surrendering of the Armenian people’s legal and rightful claims to our historic homeland. Adoption of such a binding document would amount to an official acceptance of our criminal dispossession at the hands of Turkey during the Armenian Genocide and a direct blow to the long-fought struggle for justice and restitution.

Additionally, we find the Protocols’ intention to create a “sub-commission on the historical dimension” in order to carry out a purported “scientific examination of the historical records” to be morally reprehensible and detrimental to the interests of the Armenian nation. Such an initiative is clearly a ploy to cast doubt on the veracity of the Armenian Genocide and roll back the growing tide of international recognition of this crime against humanity.

The Armenian government’s acceptance of such a provision would effectively make it an accomplice in Turkey’s age-old campaign to distort the overwhelming scholarly consensus confirming the Armenian Genocide.

Contrary to the initial claims of the administration that normalization would occur without preconditions, the above-mentioned provisions are only a few of the many unacceptable points in the Protocols which demonstrate a capitulation to Turkey’s longstanding anti-Armenian demands. The ending of Turkey’s illegal blockade should not come at this cost of signing away Armenia’s security, viability and future.

We call on President Serzh Sargsyan to immediately withdraw his administration’s participation in these Protocol negotiations. We find these actions to be a setback for our people and believe they should be rejected by all those who aspire to secure the interests of the Armenian Republic.

We call on the Armenian Nation, those within the Republic and in the Diaspora, to express their opposition to this dangerous proposal and take immediate action to prevent the Armenian government from signing on to these Protocols.

As Armenian youth, we pledge to do everything in our power to defend our people’s national interests and prevent these Protocols from being pushed through.

In the revolutionary spirit,
Armenian Youth Federation –Western Region