/Eurasianet.org/ Several Diaspora protests have put a dent in Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s effort to sell his government’s plan to reconcile with Turkey to Armenians abroad.

Sargsyan is currently on a world tour to explain his government’s position on the Armenian-Turkish protocols.
Upwards of 3,000 Armenian émigrés staged a protest on October 4 in front of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, where Sargsyan was staying as a part of his tour. Armenian news sources reported that protesters held up slogans urging "No to the Protocols," the documents that will set the groundwork for diplomatic ties with Turkey and reopening the two countries’ border after a 16-year closure. Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu are expected to sign the protocols in Zurich on October 10.
A similar demonstration in Paris turned violent on October 2, when Diaspora protesters accused Sargsyan of treason and clashed with riot police.

Meanwhile, in Armenia itself, objections to reconciliation with Turkey show little sign of abating. The nationalist Armenian Revolution Federation-Dashnaktsutiun, Armenia’s oldest political party, has been maintaining a round-the-clock hunger strike in downtown Yerevan for three weeks. Party members have been sitting in front of the Foreign Ministry in 48-hour shifts, according to an October 4 blog post for the Frontline Club, a London-based media organization.

 

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