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Russia Interested In Reopening Of Turkish-Armenian Border - Pundit

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  • Russia Interested In Reopening Of Turkish-Armenian Border - Pundit

    RUSSIA INTERESTED IN REOPENING OF TURKISH-ARMENIAN BORDER - PUNDIT

    168 Zham
    October 14, 2008 Tuesday
    Armenia

    A US-based Armenian political analyst, Richard Giragosian, believes
    that Russia is more interested in the reopening of the Armenian-Turkish
    border than the USA is. In an interview with the Armenian newspaper
    168 Zham, Giragosian also said that Turkey has "reached a point
    where it no longer wishes to link its relations with Armenia to the
    Karabakh issue".

    The analyst believes that Turkey wants to become a regional superpower,
    which is why it seeks closer relations with Russia.

    Russia is interested in the reopening of the Armenian-Turkish border
    because it would benefit both economically and politically from this,
    Giragosian said. The Turks now want to "decide their own policy
    independently" and "any step that Turkey makes to establish normal
    relations with Armenia moves it away from Azerbaijan", Giragosian said.

    The change in the Turkish policy is connected with a "crisis"
    in Turkish-US relations, the expert said. He believes that Turkey
    wants to be the predominant power both in the South Caucasus and
    Black Sea regions due to the issue of Iraq, the problems of Kurds
    and the Turkish-US military problems. He says that Turkey views the
    South Caucasus region as a platform for entering both Azerbaijan and
    Central Asia, where it wants to be an equal player with Russia.

    Giragosian believes that the Turkish influence on the settlement of the
    Karabakh issue is weakening as the Turkish-Azerbaijani relations have
    started to deteriorate. The analyst said that, since Russian President
    Dmitriy Medvedev's visit to Baku in July, Azerbaijan has been moving
    closer to Russia and not to the USA or Turkey. Azerbaijan's demand
    for Russian military aid and its public statement that it does not
    want to join NATO pose a threat to Armenia and Nagornyy Karabakh,
    Giragosian said. According to the expert, Russia thinks that its
    positions in Armenia are so strong that it can improve its relations
    with Azerbaijan, and Armenia can do nothing as it has no "levers" to
    do so. The expert believes that Russia is interested in preserving
    the status quo in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, as this allows
    Moscow to maintain its influence in the region.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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