Speaking to Azerbaijani news portal News.Az,Director of Armenian Center for National and International Studies Richard Giragosian said that genocide issue may be used as a penalty against Turkey.
As many expected, US President Obama choose not to use the genocide word in his annual message on April 24.
But I do think that he has made it quite clear that his choice to refrain from using the genocide word, last year and this year, does not necessarily mean that he has changed his position on the Armenian “genocide.”
Instead, I believe that he sees that the delicate window of opportunity for Armenia and Turkey, both last year and now, as too significant to possibly disrupt by invoking the term. But he may use the issue as leverage against Turkey at some later point if the Turkish side fails to meet its expectations for a breakthrough with Armenia.
In this way, the genocide issue may be used as a penalty for Turkey, if Ankara misses this historic opportunity to normalize relations with Armenia. And although in this context, the Armenian “genocide” issue is related to US-Turkish relations as well as Armenian-Turkish diplomacy, it is in now way linked or related to either US relations with Azerbaijan or with the Karabagh conflict.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
