ArmInfo.By refusing to condemn the Armenian Genocide perpetrated in the Ottoman Empire, Ankara generates a threat in terms of the prospects for its repetition in the future. Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan, expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"The latter already generates a security threat for Armenia. And I think that Yerevan needs to seriously work in this direction with Russia, the United States and France - countries that have recognized the fact of the genocide. We must present negotiations with a country that refuses to condemn the gravest crime - the Armenian Genocide a significant concession. This will give us certain leverage in the actually launched fourth attempt to normalize relations with Turkey, "he stressed.
Commenting on the information disseminated by the Armenian Foreign Ministry about the first meeting of the special representatives of Armenia and Turkey being prepared in Moscow, the academician assumed that the choice of Moscow will have a symbolic meaning, indicating that Russia has a positive attitude towards the beginning of the negotiation process.
Commenting on the chances of success for the fourth attempt to normalize relations, Safrastyan recalled that two of the three previous attempts were actually supervised from Washington, however, ended in failure. The Turkologist does not see any great chances for success in the fourth attempt either. Especially taking into account the ongoing Turkish policy of setting preconditions for Armenia against the background of how Yerevan announced for its part about the beginning of the process without any preconditions. Safrastyan, at the same time, considers an important factor already expressed at the highest level by the interest of the United States and the Russian Federation in the process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations. In his opinion, this demonstrates of their mutual efforts towards the beginning of the fourth stage of negotiations between Yerevan and Ankara. According to the Turkologist, the latter largely determines the formation of Turkish interest in negotiations with Armenia.
"That is why the fourth stage is quite important for Turkey. That is why Ankara is taking the initiative in this direction. It is important for the Turks to demonstrate to the centers of power their own interest in normalizing relations with Armenia. That, however, will not at all prevent them from putting forward another precondition for Armenia in the form of the "Zangezur Corridor" already at the initial stage of negotiations, which has been repeatedly stated by representatives of the top Turkish leadership, the academician summed up.