ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE - POSSIBLE LEVER FOR PRESSURE UPON TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net - Director of Russian Center for Strategic Research Andrey Piontkovski believes that under the joint Armenia and EU pressure the Turkish authorities will try to find a way to censure the Armenian Genocide. Piontkovski noted that many EU countries are skeptical toward Turkey's accession to the Union, considering a non-Christian country joining the European structure will change its way of thinking. «They will use the fact of Ankara relation to the Armenian Genocide issue with pleasure and it can hamper Turkey's accession to the EU,» noted Andrey Piontkovski. «However, on the other hand, I am surprised at Turkey's readiness to refuse many prejudices for accession to the EU.» In his turn, expert of the Center for Political Technologies Sergey Mikheev noted that the EU demand to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide can turn out to be merely a veil. «One should understand that interests are a priority,» he noted. In his words, all the rest is a technological «game» at the most. It the accession of Turkey is favorable to the EU, irrespective of whether it acknowledges the Genocide or not, it will be admitted to the EU. If continued pressure is in the interest of the EU, the Genocide issue will be used as a lever to put pressure upon Turkey for a period of time, the expert added.