news.az, Azerbaijan
Jan 7 2010

Moscow would like Turkey to become its true ally, Russian analyst
Thu 07 January 2010 | 12:42 GMT Text size:

Sergey Mikheev "The Karabakh issue will be among the top priority
issues at the upcoming meeting of Erdogan and Putin.

Ankara and Moscow have recently boosted economic interaction and, I
think, the economic issues will become the main issue of these
negotiations", said Sergey Mikheev, vice president of the Center of
Political Technologies.

Even if the Karabakh issue is discussed at these negotiations, I do
not see a serious breakthrough in this issue, he said.

"Neither Moscow nor Ankara are able to influence the conflict parties,
they should find the solution themselves. The practice of such
conflicts shows that external prescriptions are not always a good way
to settle such conflicts. Moreover, neither Moscow nor Ankara should
touch this wound that may start bleeding again. Therefore, nothing
should change", Mikheev considers.

As for the fact that Baku is resented over the status quo on Karabakh,
the political scientist said Azerbaijan’s positions are clear to him
and, certainly, there is no guarantee that this conflict will not
become uncontrolled one day.

"But if this happens, the whole region will face a disaster which will
not be favorable either for Azerbaijan or Armenia and the region. The
only thing that may reduce tensions in the region is an agreement
about release of a part of the occupied lands of Azerbaijan around
Nagorno Karabakh. Otherwise, this nervous situation will continue".

As for the creation of a strategic alliance between Ankara and Moscow
the political scientist said he does not believe in it.

"Certainly, Moscow wants Turkey to be its true ally but the question
is whether Ankara will take this step. It is a NATO member, one of the
closest allies of the United States in the region, therefore, Ankara
will hardly change its ally relations with Washington for the
relations with Moscow. Americans are not so stupid to accept the
strategic alliance between Turkey and Russia that may end US reign
from Balkans, Middle East, Caucasus and to Middle Asia. Therefore,
the United States will do everything possible and will use all
conflicts including Karabakh conflict to avert creation of such a
union. Therefore, such conflicts as Karabakh are difficult to settle.
This is the main problem. Therefore, I am now pessimistic about the
soonest settlement of this issue", Mikheev said.

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