YEREVAN, August 28. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recognition of the Armenian genocide does not mean that he cares about Armenia or its people, far from it, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated.

"Regarding the statement by the Israeli Prime Minister, obviously this has nothing to do with Armenia, the people of Armenia or the interests of the Armenian people. In general, the situation is such that we must address this topic, we must understand whether we want the issue of international recognition or non-recognition of the Armenian genocide to become a political bargaining chip in the hands of others," the Armenian Prime Minister noted.

Pashinyan called for focusing attention on Armenia’s interests. According to him, many countries have recognized the Armenian genocide, but the Armenian people have gained nothing from it.

The head of the Armenian government added that he had asked many heads of state why they recognized the fact of the genocide, and it turned out that in most cases the motivation for recognition was to win the sympathies of voters ahead of elections, which has nothing to do with Armenia’s state interests.

Earlier, the Israeli Prime Minister, in an interview with American podcaster Patrick Bet-David, when asked why Israel does not recognize the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire, replied that he thought the Knesset had recognized this fact. When clarified as to why no head of the Israeli government had ever spoken about the genocide in relation to the killings of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks by the Turks, Netanyahu responded that he had just done so. Thus, Netanyahu became the first Israeli Prime Minister to state that he recognizes the events of 1915 as genocide.