YEREVAN. – The Armenian-Turkish relations are not expected to normalize in 2013, turkologist Artak Shakaryan stated during a press conference on Wednesday.

“The Syrian and Iranian processes could somewhat impact the Armenian Turkish relations, but a significant progress is not expected in the normalization of relations,” the turkologist said.   

In his words, no elections will held either in Armenia or in Turkey after March 2013.

“Presidential elections are designated in Azerbaijan in fall. [And] All this attests to the fact that there is no need to wait for any normalization process in the Armenian-Turkish relations,” Shakaryan stressed. 

In his view, the Turkish state and society are not politically ready for reconciliation, but business always opens closed doors. 

“It is quite likely that the economic interests of both countries would bring the authorities to a political agreement. But it should be noted that Armenia’s economy is not too appealing for Turkey,” the turkologist stated.   

Also, Artak Shakaryan maintained that nothing will change until 2015—that is, the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide—, and, subsequently, there will be a sharp decline in the Armenian-Turkish normalization process.