Armenian Foreign Ministry called recognition of genocide not the main priority of Yerevan

The Armenian authorities do not consider international recognition of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire to be their top priority, follows from the statement of Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan against the backdrop of improving relations with Turkey. “International recognition of the genocide is not our number one priority. Studying the tragic events of the Armenian genocide or their transformation priority number one is certainly not the Foreign Office's agenda," he said. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, persecution of Armenians regularly occurred in the Ottoman Empire. In particular, in 1915, according to historians, more than one and a half million people were killed. The fact of genocide of the Armenian people was recognized by 23 states, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches. In 1995, the Russian State Duma adopted a resolution “On condemnation of the genocide of the Armenian people of 1915-1922 in their historical homeland - Western Armenia.” Armenia and Turkey do not have diplomatic relations, the border between them has been closed since 1993 on the initiative of Ankara. For many years, the stumbling block between the countries has been Turkey's support for the Azerbaijani position in the Karabakh problem and Ankara's sharp reaction to the process of international recognition of the Armenian genocide. In January 2022, the first meeting of special representatives on the process of normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey - Deputy Chairman of the Armenian Parliament Ruben Rubenyan - took place in Moscow and former Turkish Ambassador to the United States Serdar Kilic. As the Russian Foreign Ministry noted then, the parties showed a readiness to conduct dialogue in a constructive, non-politicized manner. Later, several more meetings took place in Vienna.