Experts draw attention to political factors in recognition of Armenian Genocide

Russian political analysts Alexei Malashenko and Sergey Markedonov believe that recognition of Armenian Genocide is mainly caused not by not humanitarian, but by political considerations. As an example, they refer to the USA, where the issue of recognizing the genocide draws quite a lot of public attention.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that residents of Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and members of Armenian Diasporas around the world mark April 24 as the Remembrance Day of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1923. The year 2015 marks 100 years since the beginning of the tragic event. So far, the Armenian Genocide has been recognized by more than 20 countries.

On April 15, the European Parliament decided to set April 24 as the Remembrance Day of Victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire and called on Ankara to recognize it.

The recognition of the Armenian Genocide is usually politically motivated, said Alexei Malashenko, a member of the Scientific Board of the Moscow Carnegie Centre.

In the opinion of Sergey Markedonov, an Associate Professor at the Division of Foreign Regional Studies and Foreign Policy of the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH), the recognition or non-recognition of the Armenian Genocide depends in much on the country's current relations with Turkey.

The destruction of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 "was the first massacre in the 20th century", US President Barack Obama said on April 23 in his annual address to the Armenian Diaspora. However, he avoided mentioning the word "genocide", although during his 2008 presidential election campaign he spoke about the need for the United States to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.