Sargis Hatspanyan: Turkey tries to hamper Armenians' efforts aimed at international recognition of Armenian Genocide with Ocalan's help

On the threshold of the Armenian Genocide centenary, the Turkish Government and special services are trying to hamper the Armenians' efforts aimed at international recognition of the Armenian Genocide with Abdullah Ocalan's help, analyst Sergey Hatspanyan said at today's press conference when commenting on Ocalan's recent address to Armenian people.  

Hatspanyan is critical about the address of Ocalan, who is serving his life sentence on Imrali Island.  Hatspanyan thinks that the only positive thing in Ocalan's address is the fact that for the first time Ocalan called a spade a spade when using the term "genocide". On the other hand, he says nothing of the Kurds' responsibility for annihilation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, mass deportation of Armenians and occupation of the Armenians' lands. "Moreover, the leader of Kurds seems to feel pity for the Armenians living in Turkey's territory. On the other hand, he criticizes the Armenian Diaspora and calls it an instrument in the hands of "the world capitalism". This tactics is familiar to us. Ankara itself has repeatedly attempted to split the Armenian Diaspora", said Hatspanyan.    

The analyst recalled that so far Ocalan's statements have been anti-Armenian, and the softening of his position should be considered in the context of weakening of the Kurds' armed fight against the Turkish Government. "It is obvious that Ocalan has decided to make a deal with the Turkish Government. The thing is that on the threshold of the Armenian Genocide centenary, when the issue of Armenians' repatriation and property recovery may arise even theoretically, the Kurds are afraid that they will have to be responsible for the crimes along with the Turkish Government. It is first of all Ankara that will lay that responsibility on the Kurds. Consequently, the Kurds are trying to evade the responsibility by trying to assure Armenians of their friendship and brotherhood. This is why Ocalan is speaking of the fight for freedom of all peoples living in the eastern territories of present-day Turkey", said Hatspanyan.  

To note, in his recent address, Ocalan said, "We fight for freedom of not only the Kurdish people, but also Armenians and other peoples and religions". In his two-page appeal Ocalan touches also upon the Armenian Genocide issue recalling that after the "vicious genocide" Armenians proved strong enough to hold out through severe fight and genuine efforts, "which is a miracle". "The 'poison' of the nationalist state and the government has turned these lands into cemetery of peoples and cultures. We fought for freedom of not only Kurds but also other peoples living here.  Despite difficulties, our fight for peace will not affect any other nation," Ocalan said.