Forecast: No promising business project for the divergence of Moscow and Ankara over Karabakh, Crimea or Syria will not be canceled
ArmInfo. Recep Erdogan returned to the Karabakh issue after the Sochi talks with Vladimir Putin is not accidental. And Moscow's unwillingness to go for unmotivated exchanges in the Karabakh issue does not mean loss of Turkish interest in Trans Caucasus and the Black Sea region, such an opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by the Russian expert Sergei Markedonov.
On the eve of the November 13 meeting in Sochi with Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced discussion of other issues and the Karabakh issue at the meeting. Erdogan expressed the supposition that if the Russian colleague is concentrated on this issue, it "will be easily solved". The Turkish president voiced a similar opinion on the eve of the trilateral summit of the presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey, held in Sochi on November 22. However, in both cases the Karabakh issue was not formally discussed.
Noting that even if the Karabakh issue is not again the topic of discussions at future meetings of Putin and Erdogan, the analyst stressed that the significance of Karabakh for the dynamics of Russian-Turkish relations cannot be understated. This opinion of Markedonov determines the strategic alliance of Azerbaijan with Turkey, the common interests of Turkey and Georgia, Ankara's interest in strengthening the tripartite bond, among other things, designed to promote regional isolation of Armenia.
"In addition to all this, despite the" Arab spring ", the Middle East turn of Ankara's foreign policy interests, the Trans Caucasus and the Black Sea region are still important for Turkey, moreover, Ankara is ready to use the Trans Caucasian vicissitudes as instruments of favoring its own positions in the Syrian settlement. However, all this does not lead to Moscow's readiness to easily accept Turkish initiatives, moreover, Moscow has already demonstrated its readiness to defend its own colors in principle foreign policy issues, "he said.
According to the estimates of the analyst, having embarked on the path of confrontation in 2015, Moscow and Ankara quickly realized that not getting from this benefit, they could damage their own interests and give an excellent reason to use this opposition against themselves by third forces. Nevertheless, in his opinion, it is not possible to expect a conflict-free era in Russian-Turkish relations. And even the most promising business project of the divergences of Moscow and Ankara on Karabakh, Crimea or Syria will not be canceled. And even the rejection of American domination, according to the expert, does not guarantee the consent of Ankara and Moscow to the dominant positions of each other.