EURASIAN UNION OF DAVUTOGLU DOOMED TO FAILURE AND RATHER REFERS TO SPHERE OF ROMANTICISM

ArmInfo
2010-02-17 10:35:00

ArmInfo. The Eurasian Union of Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu is doomed to failure and rather refers to the sphere of
romanticism, Director of the Civilized and Cultural Research Center
of Yerevan State University, Orientalist, ex-Ambassador of Armenia
to Syria, Professor David Hovhannisian told ArmInfo.

"In general, the maneuvers of the Turkish diplomacy are quite clear,
especially in a situation when strong pressure is exerted on Turkey by
the USA, and not only because of the Armenian-Turkish process. There
is also pressure by the European Union in view of noncompliance of
Turkey with the European criteria and legislation. In view of this,
Turkey quite naturally advances its alternative plan in form of a
Eurasian Union, saying the European Union is not the only pebble
on the beach, and the strategic relations with the USA may quite be
disputed by Ankara", he said.

The professor does not consider all these impulses serious, since,
despite everything, the membership in NATO for Turkey keeps on being
paramount. In this context, the initiative of the Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on EU creation seems not very serious,
since Turkey’s relations with both Iran and a number of Arab and
Islamic countries have always been of dubious nature, first of all,
for Turkey, i.e. there was no confidence, stability and opportunities
in them for creation of a mutually beneficial partnership. "However,
it is not unimportant that Turkey has been considered one of the
most anti-American disposed countries over the last 15 years, that
tells on the latest impulses in the region. Along with it, it is very
important for the modern Turks to feel like part of Europe. Against
this background, the Eurasian project of Davutoglu is doomed to
failure and rather refers to the sphere of romanticism", he resumed.

On February 4, during the meeting with Turkish ambassadors to Eurasian
countries, Ahmet Davutoglu offered to create nothing less than an
equivalent of the European Union in form of a so-called urasian Union.

Davutoglu thought that EU countries have to cooperate more closely and
create railway, overland and maritime traffic networks. Noteworthy,
he called the future railway branch Baku-Tbilis-Kars as the brightest
example of cooperation. This branch will be "the shortest route"
to connect Central and South-Eastern Asia with the European Union.