Turkey Must Return Armenian Land – Attorney General

YEREVAN — Victims of Armenian genocide should receive material compensation, churches and church lands should be returned to the Armenian Church, the Republic of Armenia should receive back the territories it lost. But all these claims should have perfect legal grounds. Upon the initiative of the ministry of Diaspora, in a conference of lawyers ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, Aghvan Hovsepyan, prosecutor general of Armenia said in his speech.

International insurance agencies decided in 2007 to pay the heirs of the victims of the Armenian genocide, but they have recently stopped the payments. According to the prosecutor general the reason is Turkey’s pressure. Aghvan Hovsepyan said that if Armenia possessed undeniable arguments, this process would have a logic outcome. According to him, this issue is up to the Armenian lawyers to solve.
It has been one century, since the Armenian-Turkish relations, as Aghvan Hovsepyan says, have been staying in place. Though many countries recognized and condemned the Armenian genocide, we have no significant result. I’m sure we will be at the same point in one century. The reason is not only the policy of denial of Turkey, neither the geopolitical contradictions of super powers. I strongly believe the reason is also our positions on the recognition of the Armenian genocide and on the Armenian-Turkish relations, said Hovsepyan.

He added that the recognition of the genocide is only one element of the Armenian cause. The settlement of the Armenian-Turkish relations is of legal character and it should be reached based on international right. This, according to the prosecutor general means that all international pacts relating to the Armenian people and their territories should be examined. Otherwise we will have what we have now, said Aghvan Hovsepyan.

He thinks it is wrong not to answer the Azeri balderdash that Syunik, Yerevan and Artsakh are Azeri territories. “Wouldn’t it be more effective if we gave legally grounded answers to Azeris. For instance, in accord with March 16 pact of Moscow of 1921, Nakhichevan was separated from Armenia and as an autonomous region was given under Azerbaijan’s patronage. Letting alone the legality of the Moscow pact, I should note that in 1923, Azerbaijan’s Central Committee revised the previous decision and included Nakhichevan in its composition. This decision was such an evident violation of the international right that even Turkey issued a protest note against it. Can we affirm Nakhichevan is an inseparable part of Armenia and that Azerbaijan occupied it? Of course we can, but somehow we are silent”, said Aghvan Hovsepyan.

Dwelling on international agreements relating Armenia, the prosecutor general said that the Armenian-Turkish border is not regulated. “We have territorial disputes with both Azerbaijan and Turkey”. According to the prosecutor general, in order to solve these issues, it is necessary to work out a large package of claims with relevant legal grounds and introduce it before the authorities of Armenia with the view of submitting it to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). “I’m sure if Azerbaijan had at least 1/100 of our legal ground, it would have long applied not only to the International Court of Justice, but to all possible instances”, said the prosecutor general calling not to forget that time is working against us.