Genocide Resolution May Help Nagorno-Karabakh Settlement

Russian analysts think the Armenian Genocide Resolution adopted by the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs may play an essential role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and may also signal to Ankara that it must stop insisting to return the disputed areas to Azerbaijan.

In an interview with Russian online newspaper Gazeta, Vladimir Zakharov, a senior scientist from the Caucasus Research Centre at the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations, said America actively mediated the Armenia-Turkey rapprochement last year.

“Against the backdrop of the global recession, Washington, as well as other regional players, wants to see a peaceful Caucasus. And for that purpose, the US exerts diplomatic pressure on Turkey, which considers the Nagorno-Karabakh issue an important aspect in its relations with Armenia,” said Zakharov.

Referring to the Armenia-Turkey Protocols without any preconditions, the newspaper writes: “That means that Armenia does not tie recognition of the Armenian Genocide to that document. Turkey, in turn, should have withdrawn from its demand to return Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan. But in 2010, it turned out that Yerevan has accepted those conditions, while Ankara has not.”