TURKEY MAY TAKE UNPREDICTABLE MOVES

Yerkir
08.01.2007 16:42

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – In 2007, the Near East will still be in the
limelight of the world policy, since it’s the very place where the
interests of the West with the United States at the head contact
with the Islamic world split into Shiism and Sunnism, director of
the Institute of Oriental Studies at the RA Academy of Sciences,
Dr Ruben Safrastyan told a reporter. In his opinion, the U.S. may
lose control over Iraq thus boosting the possibility of large-scale
armed collision between sunnits and shiits supported by Saudi Arabia
and Iran respectively.

On the other hand, further escalation of conflicting zones in Palestine
and Lebanon, struck by bloody battles last year, is also possible.

Tension over the Iranian nuclear program is predictable as well. "We do
not rule out that the U.S. may deal a blow on Iran’s nuclear facilities
and this will be the worst scenario pregnant with catastrophic
consequences," Safrastyan said adding that the domestic situation
in Turkey that tends to involve the army in politics may lead to
unpredictable moves taken by the state in the region, specifically
in Iraqi Kurdistan.

"All this gives to understand that the U.S. program on
"democratization" and "stabilization" in the Near East so much
advertised by the Bush administration has actually failed," he
underscored.