Armenia wants to maintain good ties with neighboring Turkey and believes resolutions passed in other countries' parliaments supporting Armenian claims of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during World War I will not help dialogue between the two countries, Armenia's foreign minister has reportedly said.
Eduard Nalbandian was speaking at a conference in Stockholm, NTV reported. "Let's say 20 countries have passed such resolutions. What would happen if 50 more do the same?" Nalbandian asked in his speech. He said Armenians had strong convictions that the genocide had taken place but that a focus on this was not a remedy to ease strained relations with Turkey. "We want to remain friends with Turkey, with whom we are bound to stay neighbors forever," he was quoted as saying.
Nalbandian's remarks appear to differ radically from the rhetoric of the Armenian diaspora, which is pushing for the passage of genocide resolutions in the parliaments of foreign countries. The US-Armenian lobby is working hard to persuade the US Congress to pass a non-binding resolution to that effect and is hoping that President-elect Barack Obama will keep his campaign promise to support the initiative in January, when he takes over the post from the outgoing George W. Bush.
Turkish analysts hope that dialogue with Armenia will be a major blow to diaspora efforts to secure anti-Turkish resolutions in other parliaments. President Abdullah G
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