The Armenian Genocide international recognition process will not be smooth, Sergey Minasyan, Deputy Director of the Caucasus Institute, said at a press conference in Yerevan on April 29.
He said that some countries will recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, others will adopt documents implying criminalization of the genocide denial.
The expert thinks that two important events took place on the threshold of the Armenian Genocide Centennial - Austria and Germany qualified the events of 1915 as genocide. Minasyan is convinced that the Armenian Genocide international recognition process has entered a new phase.
"Sooner or later Turkey will have to take a decision on that issue. But I am not sure this will happen during the presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Such developments may take place after Erdogan leaves the president's post," he said. He added that if Turkey wants to become a serious actor in the region, it will have to make a decision on that matter.
Minasyan thinks that Erdogan's criticism against the Russian president for the latter's participation in the Armenian Genocide Centennial events is just Erdogan's personal emotions.