YEREVAN. –  The Armenian Genocide is a bargaining chip for the United States, turkologist Ruben Melkonyan told reporters on Thursday.

He commented on adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution by the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

By this move, official Washington on the one hand is pressing Turkey and on the other is trying to win over Armenia amid growing confrontation between western and Russian political elites.

“We are dealing with cold political calculation, U.S. moves have no pro-Armenian coloring,” he said.

Melkonyan recalled that U.S.-Turkey relations date back to 1950s and are based on mutual interest, while moral issues will hardly prevail over political mileage.