Lebanon - Testing Area in Near East

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Lebanese events can become significant for the region. Lebanon is a testing area where models for the Near East are being worked out, orientalist Suren Manukian said in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net "It was Lebanon where the Islamists started the struggle against other states, the U.S. first tested point attacks in Lebanon, the West carried out the "cedar revolution" via the killing of Rafik Hariri. We can draw a parallel with Georgia which is being represented as a 'signboard of exemplary democracy.' The same is happening with Iraq," Manukian remarked. He reminded that October 11, 2006 a law on the federative administration of Iraq was adopted. "Practically it means that the Kurdish economy is fixed juridically. Federative Iraq is a step toward Kurdistan's independence, which will change the map of the whole region. But I should stress that Iraq and Georgia are 'reading-books' of propagandized democracy," he said. As for Azerbaijan, being a temporal state it nevertheless becomes an Islamic one gradually. "The Azeri leadership is trying to make the Islamization of the state manageable but the number of mosques is increasing. The Islamization tendency did not bypass Turkey either that is why Europe's refusal will be less painful for it now. This state would prefer to be a leader in the region rather than an EU member. By the way, ideology has undergone certain changes. Kemal Ataturk's slogan 'Towards to Europe' yielded to Recep Erdogan's slogan to 'return to the East," the Armenian scientist underscored.