Establishment of Armenian-Turkish Relations Hardly Possible in Near Future

PanARMENIAN.Net - Establishment of Armenian-Turkish relations hardly possible in near future, analyst of Spectrum Center for Strategic Analysis Sergey Sargsyan told PanARMENIAN.Net In his words, Turkish foreign policy is rising currently. "It became activated in the Middle East, as illustrated by the participation of Turkish military in the peacekeeping contingent in Lebanon. Turkey became more active in the South Caucasus: its projects of breaking a Turkic corridor via Georgia to Azerbaijan and father to Turkic republics of the Central Asia is realistic as never. Specifically owing to Georgia needing allies due to the confrontation with Russia. I believe that the «European project», which is actively lobbied by Islamic-leaning Party of Justice and Development, is a clearly calculated move, aimed at reviewing basic principles of Turkey as a secular state, not at its accession to the EU," the Armenian analyst said.



The military who were considered to preserve the legacy of Kemal Ataturk, secular nature of the country and close integration of Turkey with the West, were deprived of influence on political decision-making resulting to reforms at the demand of the EU, Sargsyan remarked. "This strengthened the position of the Justice and Development Party and allowed the Islamist party changing the foreign and internal policy of Turkey. The growth of nationalist and Islamist moods in Turkey and Europeans' apprehensions for the future of the EU in case of Turkey's accession are the outcome. As a result Turkey will probably be left out of the EU, positions of guarantors of Turkey being secular - the military - are undermined. Thus, Islam-leaning forces by pro-European policy can attain what they could not during their attempts of direct Islamization of the country during Erbakan being the Premier. Thus, against the background of on the whole successful internal and foreign policy, withdrawal of «the Armenian block» of issues as compulsory preconditions of Turkey's accession to the EU, it is more advantageous for the ruling JDP to abide by its earlier position, i.e. linking establishment of Turkish-Armenian relations with settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict at terms favorable to Azerbaijan and thus to a further prospect," Sergey Sargsyan said.

Full text of the interview