In his address at the "Karabakh Summit" taking place in Stepanakert, Giro Manoyan, the ARF's "Hay Dat" spokesperson, noted that, "The wounds inflicted by Turkey on our people have yet to be healed because we haven't yet been able to restore those losses that can be recovered, including our territories now under Turkish occupation. We cannot restore the lives of our martyrs but a\our lands can be recovered."

The Stepanakert summit has focused on Armenian-Turkish relations and their impact on the Karabakh conflict settlement process. Reflecting on these relations, Mr. Manoyan stressed that to date Turkey continues to set preconditions - dropping the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, any Armenian demands from Turkey, including land reparations, and Artsakh independence. Mr. Manoyan believes that diplomatic relations with Turkey atre a necessity but that the question is at what price. The ARF official believes that there should be no preconditions for having diplomatic relations. Mr. Manoyan stressed that the Genocide issue is one of the weapons that we possess to compel Turkey to alter its confrontational attitude towards Armenians and that this weapon is not subject to bargaining. He added that this weapon should always be directed at its target and that it strays from its intended target when it is subject to bargaining. Mr. Manoyan pointed out that the joint statement reached by the Armenian, Turkish and Swiss governments was a veiled attempt to subject the Genocide recognition issue to bargaining. In conclusion, Mr. Manoyan stated that it appeared that Turkey was the driving force behind the statement of April 22. "Our official stance must be altered and we must distance ourselves from a concessionary position and try to at least restore the stance we retained from 1998 to 2008," the ARF official said.