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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reiterated that Armenia needs to stop campaigning for international recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide as a precondition for normalization with Turkey, says Varuzhan Geghamyan, a Yerevan-based geopolitical strategist and regional security expert.

"It is time to put aside baseless ideas. It is always better to act on the realities of the time than to act on fictional historical narratives that have nothing to do with reality. Pashinyan has already understood this." Erdogan was quoted by the Azerbaijani media as telling reporters while returning from his visit Iraq on Monday.

Geghamyan states the anti-genocide campaign carried out by Armenia's ruling party has been taken to its logical conclusion in recent days.

“Soon the discourse "if we don’t abandon the Armenian Genocide recognition efforts, Turkey will not normalize relations with Armenia" will be put into use,” the expert wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

“It's scary to imagine what message the Armenian leader will deliver tomorrow, which could deal a heavy blow to the Armenian Genocide recognition process. And after the genocide, the Armenian Diaspora will be the next target," Geghamyan added.