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When trying to put pressure on Turkey, any country, including Russia, is making use of a number of factors, in particular, the Armenian Genocide committed in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, Director of the Armenian branch of the CIS Countries Institute, political scientist Alexander Markarov told a press conference today.

“The Israeli parliament Knesset remembers about the Armenian Genocide at a time of worsening of Israeli-Turkish relations. The same is true for the U.S. when problems arise in US-Turkish relations,” Markarov said.

According to him, every country knows that the Armenian Genocide, the Northern Cyprus issues, and human rights protection and the situation related to reporters in Turkey can be included in the agenda when Ankara’s relations with a country become tense or when it creates problems.

Commenting on the draft law which was recently introduced in Russia’s State Duma and establishes liability for denial of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, Markarov said: “The fact that the Constitution of yet another country will have a provision about responsibility for the Armenian Genocide denial stems from Armenia’s interests and the priorities of our country’s foreign policy”.

“I would also like to draw your attention to the person who introduced that bill in the State Duma – it is the head of ‘Just Russia’ faction Sergey Mironov. We have not heard so far any statements from ‘United Russia’ faction making up a majority in the State Duma. This makes one think that the process will probably not have the completion that many say would be advantageous to Armenia,” A. Markarov added.