Yerevan /Mediamax/. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said that Turkey’s policy of denial acquired a “particular manifestation” this year.

The President stated it addressing “At the Foot of Mount Ararat” international media forum on March 18.

“We wish we could have also commemorated the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide together with the Turkish people, thereby heralding a new haven of the rapprochement of the two nations and normalization of their relations. This was the goal pursued by the protocols between Armenia and Turkey signed back in 2009 and of my invitation to the President Erdogan of Turkey to join us on April 24 in honoring the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims. Unfortunately, once more we encountered denial, one that acquired a particular manifestation this year.

This year Turkish authorities decided to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli on the very day of April 24. The only motive for that was the simple-minded goal to distract the attention of the international community from the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. By the way, in this context your Norwegian colleague Bard Larsen published in February an article titled “Useless Diplomacy,” in which he very aptly put that “this would be tantamount to Germany celebrating heroic victories of Wehrmacht in the Eastern Front during World War II.”

The Turkish policy of denial pursued not only vindicates the crime committed by the Ottoman authorities – the dispossession of Armenians – but also sets a dangerous precedent for the recurrence of new genocides. Their efforts to avoid responsibility or consign the Armenian Genocide to oblivion can be characterized as continuation of the crime and encouragement of new genocides.

It is a matter of plain fact that the policy pursued by the current Turkish government rules out the possibility of bringing the famous Protocols into life at which official Ankara looked from the perspective of the absurd preconditions perpetually set forth by it. For that very reason I decided to recall them from our parliament. Thus, the process did not reach its logical conclusion, and everybody knows which party is to blame for its failure. This does not mean that we are closing the window for rapprochement with Turkey. Nevertheless, we are not going to get involved in a process, which may fall victim to the third country’s unconstructive whims and, most importantly, without hope of restoring mutual trust,” said the Armenian President.