“Our demands are absolutely different. Those Ottoman citizens experienced a genocide and dispossession. They were deprived of a motherland.
The Turkish Prime Minister’s recent statement that the country is ready to offer citizenship to the descendents of the exiled Ottoman Armenians is considered a manipulation in the Armenian expert circles
“Our demands are absolutely different. Those Ottoman citizens experienced a genocide and dispossession. They were deprived of a motherland. It is these questions that [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has to address, not the granting of citizenship to their heirs,” Turkologist Ruben Melkonyan told Tert.am.
He said the statement applies to only a small percentage of the Ottoman Armenians, given that most Genocide survivors never had heirs, with lots of others being brutally killed during the tragic events.
The expert said he sees a danger in the statement. “Turkey will build another, more large-scale show on the basis of that, especially because many Istanbul-Armenians reside not only in Istanbul but also in many other cities around the world. Many of them may be tempted into it and take part in the show,” he noted.
He described the move as a fabrication involving the efforts of Turkey and the superpowers. “Replenishing one another, they move ahead with those steps, and they all – both [US President Barack] Obama and Erdogan, as well as other representative from the superpowers – are in the same team,” Melkonyan added.
As for Barack Obama’s April 24 address (in which the US president avoided using a proper wording refer to the first biggest crime of genocide of the 20th century), the expert said despite US Ambassador John Heffern’s earlier remark that this year’s statement would be strong, he saw absolutely no change.
“We saw yet another time that it all forms part of big policies, and fortunately enough, our society’s position and evaluation was very restrained, civil and right,” Melkonyan said.
Addressing Erdogan’s the statement, political analyst Levon Shirinyan said he would prefer to follow developments were Erdogan’s words translated into deeds.“They continually give promises, but have not absolutely kept any promise so far. All this is a bluff,” he said.
Commenting on Obama’s statement, Shirinyan described it as a meaningless move not expected to change anything at all.
“It’s a way of evasion; they engaged themselves in the manipulations which are so widespread in political science,” he explained.
