"I WOULD NOT CALL IT GENOCIDE…"

-The Armenians and the Armenian diaspora have begun preparations for a major campaign ahead of the 100th anniversary of "Armenian genocide". How substantiated are the claims of the Armenian side to call what happened a crime against humanity?

- I would say that there were war crimes committed by various people who killed Armenians. However, some Armenians also committed war crimes. But I would not call it genocide because the legal definition of genocide entails intent and there is nothing that conclusively proves that the Ottoman officials intended to destroy the Armenian nation. Rather, without denying the tragic massacres the Armenians suffered during World War I, it is also important to place them in their proper context. When this is done, the application of the term "genocide" to these tragic events is inappropriate because the Turkish actions were neither unilateral nor premeditated. As the testimony of Hovhannes Katchaznouni, the first prime minister of Armenia after World War I, makes it clear, some Armenians killed as many Turks as they could in a misguided attempt to strike for independence. Additional Armenian writers such as Louise Nalbandian, James Mandalian, and Armen Garo, among others, have also detailed how some Armenians had long fought against the Turks in the lead-up to the massacres of World War I. Furthermore, such distinguished Western scholars as William Langer, Arnold Toynbee, and Walter Laqueur, among others, have also concurred with this judgment.

- Do you believe in swift reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey while the Armenians continue their campaign for the international recognition of the "genocide"?

- Yes, I do believe in the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process. However, there will always be Armenians who want to continue their campaign about genocide because of what they believe and also because this rallies transnational Armenian unity that otherwise might not be possible given how widespread the Armenian diaspora is. In addition, there are Turks who will never admit that they had any guilt. The truth is that both sides have bloody hands and should recognize it.

- Armenian official statistics admit that the demographic problem has become one of the biggest threats to the country's national security. How can this problem influence the political course of Armenia?

- Armenia is largely isolated and poor, but very determined and does have the very important support of Russia and to some extent world opinion more than Azerbaijan because of world belief in what the Armenians call genocide that they suffered during World War I.

- What are the prospects of the Karabakh conflict?

- If the Cyprus division has been going on for almost 40 years since 1974, there is no good reason to believe that the Karabakh situation can be solved in the near future. Many times problems like Karabakh simply continue for generations before a solution materializes.