Turkish President Recep Erdogan will not change his rhetoric on the threshold of the Centenary of Armenian Genocide. He will keep throwing dust into the international community's eyes, turcologist Artak Shakaryan said at today's press conference in Yerevan. He said that in June 2015 Turkey will hold parliamentary elections and Erdogan will do its best to ensure the victory of his Justice and Development Party.
"Erdogan's further political career depends on that victory. Moreover, the society still remembers the corruption scandal involving the names of Erdogan and his son that shocked the country a year ago. The weakening of the president's positions endangers his personal security, too, and dictates the need for victory at the elections. To gain victory, Erdogan should address "acceptable" messages to the Turkish public, at least, to the majority of the public. Certainly, this implies refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide", said Shakaryan.
The expert stressed that on the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide, the Turkish leadership will utter the same statements about "common pain" and "common sorrow".
To recall, on 24 April 2015 Armenia will mark the 100th mourning anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey in 1915-1923 that claimed 1.5 million Armenian lives. Official Ankara persistently denies the Armenian Genocide, which has been recognized by 24 countries.
Turkey and Armenia lack diplomatic relations. The 330km border between the countries has been closed since 1993 at the initiative of Ankara. The normalization of the relations is hindered by the fact that Turkey supports Azerbaijan's stance on Karabakh and by Ankara's painful response to the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.