YEREVAN. - Status quo of Nagorno-Karabakh will be preserved and the conflict will remain frozen for a long time, Professor at St. Petersburg State University Valeri Achkasov told an international conference on “Armenia-Turkey relations: their impact on the region’s geopolitical development and media coverage” in Yerevan.

“Certain aggravation in Karabakh peace process is possible from time to time. However, large-scale military operations are unlikely to resume. The Karabakh conflict cannot be resolved by military means,” he stated.

Achkasov stressed the international conference also focused on Armenia-Turkey reconciliation along with the Karabakh issue. He said it was noteworthy the conference was held during 96th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

“The conference was a success, as both historical issues and urgent problems concerning the current state of Armenian-Turkish relations were discussed during the meeting. It is one of those difficult issues the international community does not know what decision to offer. Moreover, since there are many issues impeding the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, I think it will not be resolved either after the parliamentary elections in Turkey,” the professor said.

Commenting on the question whether Russian-Turkish economic relations may develop into a strategic partnership, Valeri Achkasov and his colleague Vladimir Gutorov noted unanimously it is impossible at least in the near future.

“Turkey is a NATO member and strategic cooperation with Russia is practically impossible. There is no ground for such cooperation yet,” they noted.

Yerevan hosted “Armenia-Turkey relations: their impact on the region’s geopolitical development and media coverage” at the Armenian-Russian (Slavonic) University several days ago.