Experts say US recognition of the Armenian Genocide unrealistic at this point

Artak Barseghyan
Public Radio of Armenia

For the first time in nearly a quarter century, a U.S. Senate committee Thursday adopted an Armenian Genocide Resolution, calling upon the Senate to commemorate this crime and encouraging the President to ensure that America’s foreign policy reflects and reinforces the lessons, documented in the U.S. record, of the still-unpunished genocide. Which are the developments that could follow the adoption of the measure?

“The resolution adopted by the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate is an important progress, which cannot but trouble the Turkish side, especially on the threshold of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,” political scientist Aram Manukyan told reporters today.

Welcoming the initiative of the American lawmakers, he said, however, that “it’s only a small step in the context of a larger process.”

According to Manukyan, Washington will recognize the Armenian Genocide only in case it meets its own geopolitical interests, otherwise the decision would have been made long ago.  He added that there are no prerequisites for recognition at this point, either.

Historian Gevorg Melkonyan also considers that it’s still untimely to have optimistic expectations with regard to the US recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Meanwhile, he is confident that the American bill will promote the process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide worldwide.

He said the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the US is more than unrealistic at this point.