MOSCOW (TASS) — Turkey will stick to the policy of manoeuvring between Washington and Moscow after Joseph Biden’s statement on the recognition of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, Leading Researcher at Russia’s Academy of Sciences’ Center for Arab and Islamic Studies Boris Dolgov stated on Sunday.

“There is no reason to assume that Turkey will become a partner or ally for Russia that you can trust. It will continue the policy of manoeuvring between the U.S. and Russia”, the expert said, commenting on the prospects for strengthening ties between the countries in the wake of the American leader’s statement.

According to Dolgov, Turkey can only be temporarily inclined to cooperate with Russia after Biden’s remark. However, the country will stay true to the policy of manoeuvring between Washington and Moscow. “The U.S. statement can be used by Turkey to continue the policy of manoeuvring between the US and Russia, promoting its interests, taking its dividends from this manoeuvring”, the expert went on to say.

The Russian expert believes that Turkey has been “playing on the contradictions” between the U.S. and Russia for a long time, trying to derive maximum benefit from this. “This is the Syrian conflict, the promotion of Turkey’s interests in Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, the Eastern Mediterranean, the promotion of Turkey as the Muslim world’s leader and the Ottoman Empire’s heir”, Dolgov noted, stressing that one should not expect any drastic changes in Istanbul’s politics.

Regarding the reasons for the recent U.S. actions, Dolgov stated that these moves were aimed at containing Turkey and returning it to the general course of Western policy. “The exclusion of Turkey from the [production of the fifth generation] F-35 fighters and the Armenian genocide’s recognition are links in this chain, the U.S. policy, which seeks to persuade Turkey and return it to the U.S. and Western political course”, the Russian expert concluded.

On Saturday, Joseph Biden called the events of the early 20^th century in the Ottoman Empire the Armenian genocide. Former American presidents avoided using this term. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Biden’s statement undermined relations between Washington and Ankara, urging Biden to “correct this serious mistake”.