MOSCOW—Leading Russian-Armenian organizations joined popular online news sites in opposing the Armenia-Turkey protocols by issuing a terse announcement Tuesday, ahead of President Serzh Sarkisian’s visit to Rostov on the last leg of his Diaspora tour.
Outlining that provisions of the protocols were rife with dangers and uncertainty for Armenia, the statement called on Armenia to not sign the protocols and to leave the negotiations citing the people’s opposition to the process.
“Under these circumstances when the Armenian side, for whatever reason, is not leveraging the advantages it has on the Genocide issue, to which Turkey stands as an obstacle, different ways of diplomatic relations should be developed,” said the announcement.
The organizations also recommended the creation of a pan-Armenian body that would address issues of critical importance to the nation, in order to avert schisms and tensions between Armenia and the Diaspora.
The statement was signed by the Armenian National Committee of Moscow, the “Ararat” Cultural Association, the Moscow Armenian Historical Society, Moscow “Nakhichevan” Compatriotic Union, the Russian-Armenian “Yerkramas” newspaper, as well as the Youtharmenia.ru, Armenia-online.ru, Genocide.ru, Hayoc-erkir.ru, Karabah88.ru and Ararat-online.ru Web sites.
