Alisa Gevorgyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Bolivia became the 22nd country to recognize the Armenian Genocide a few days ago. Expert of Turkish studies Gevorg Petrosyan says this event cannot be described as highly influential from the perspective of international recognition, but some provisions of the Resolution are extremely important.
“Recognition of the Armenian Genocide is definitely important, but we seem to have concentrated only on this,” Petrosyan said, adding that “it’s high time to change the strategy and transfer the Genocide issue to the international legal field.”
Speaking about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Turkey, the expert said it was important for both countries. “The agreements reached in Ankara prove that they have good perspectives of cooperation in the economic field,” he said.
“Turkey is the second largest consumer of Russian gas after Germany. Besides, as a result of international sanctions Russia gives greater significance to the deepening of relations with its important partners, Turkey among them,” he added.
On the other hand, the developing Turkish economy has a great demand for fuel; therefore, the reinforcement of relations is important for Turkey, as well.
How could the warming of relations between Russia and Turkey affect Armenia and particularly the Nagorno Karabakh issue? Gevorg Poghosyan says “the ‘warming’ is about economic relations, while there have been no positive trends in the political sphere.”
Political scientist Alexanfer Iskandaryan describes Putin’s visit as a geopolitical game. “The West tries to isolate Russia, and Moscow, in turn, tries to reach the Turkish and other markets bypassing the West.”
According to Iskandatyan, the Russia-Turkey relations are important to the region, and the pillar of this partnership is the economic cooperation.
