Turkey has condemned Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s speech in which he urged school children in capital Yerevan to occupy eastern Turkey.
A statement released by Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said Turkey strongly condemns a response of Sarksyan to a question about occupying eastern Turkey.
Asked by a student at a literature contest ceremony if Armenians will be able to get back their what they call 'western territories' together with Mount Ararat, Sargsyan said “this is the task of your generation.”
Armenians attach importance to Mt. Ararat on the eastern border of modern-day Turkey, around where they believe adopted Christianity in 301 A.D.
Sargsyan said his generation had fulfilled its task by “getting back” Karabakh, a part of what he called “our motherland from the enemy.”
Nagorno-Karabakh is an Azerbaijani territory which is currently under Armenian occupation. Both countries have met dozens of times to find a settlement to the decades-long conflict but failed to secure a peace agreement. Armenia occupies 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories, including seven adjacent provinces populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis.
The statement said the primary duty of statesmen must be to prepare their societies, particularly youth, for a peaceful and prosperous future.
Turkey said it is “very irresponsible behavior” to make recommendations to youth and future generation that could provoke animosity and ideology of hatred among nations.
Turkey and Armenia made a failed attempt two years ago to bury a century of hostilities by signing twin protocols on normalization of relations and establishing diplomatic ties, which also included opening of the Turkish-Armenian borders in two months if the procotols get ratified in parliaments.
The statement said at a time when peace attempts have intensified in the region, expressions that the Armenian president did not shunned to use signal that “he has no intention for peace.”
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