Russian expert: If Turkiye recognizes Armenian Genocide, it will be  obliged to return trillions worth of looted Armenian property

ArmInfo. There are plenty of deniers of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, despite it being a well-documented crime. This was stated by Viktor Nadein-  Raevsky, Director of the Institute of Political and Social Studies of  the Black Sea-Caspian Region and Senior Researcher at the Institute  of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy  of Sciences, at the international conference "Genocide. Memory and  Prevention," organized by the Union of Armenians of Russia with the  support of the Moscow government.

Regarding the reasons for the extermination of Armenians by the  Turkish authorities, the expert emphasized that the Armenians  hindered the creation of the "Great Turan" project, creating a wedge  between Ottoman Turkey and the rest of the Turkic world. He noted  that the extermination of Armenians was overseen at the government  level, as evidenced by the fact that the deportations and murders of  Armenians were led by the Young Turk Minister of the Interior, Talaat  Pasha, and the Ottoman Minister of War, Enver Pasha.

"Why else do the Turks refuse to acknowledge the genocide? It's  because it involved enormous amounts of money. The Armenian property  of the dead Armenians was completely plundered. Thirty-one  commissions were created in the Ottoman Empire to Turkify abandoned  Armenian and Greek property. But not everything was plundered back  then-it was about $14 million, and today, as you understand, that's  trillions of dollars. Therefore, during Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's  reign, everything continued, and 29 commissions for the Turkification  of Armenian property were created under the Republicans, and they  worked for many years until everything was distributed,"  Nadein-Raevsky noted. Touching on current developments in the region,  the Russian expert stated that, with US assistance, Armenia is  currently seeking to establish a pan- Turanian corridor through  Syunik. "Yes, one Armenian state-Artsakh-has already been eliminated.  This is a terrible story that must not be forgotten until the  Armenians who left Artsakh are returned to their homes. And as you  can see, the idea of creating this 'Great Turan' continues; an  organization of Turkish states has already been established. So, this  threat continues to hang over Armenia, and not only for Armenia but  also for Russia," Nadein-Raevsky noted.

At the same time, the Russian expert emphasized that the loss of  Nagorno-Karabakh is a tragedy for Russia, as it has lost the most  pro-Russian part of the South Caucasus.