RUSSIAN, TURKISH POSITIONS ON KARABAKH ‘SIMILAR’
news.az
May 12 2010
Azerbaijan
Alexey Vlasov Russian analyst has commented on the Russian President’s
visit to Turkey.
Relations between Turkey and Russia have been developing very rapidly
in the past two years, despite the fact that, following on from the
Cold War era, Turkey has usually been put in the Western camp in terms
of military and political affiliation, the director of Moscow State
University’s analytical centre on post-Soviet states, Alexey Vlasov,
told 1news.az website today.
Vlasov said that Moscow and Ankara were gradually moving to a deeper
level of strategic partnership in all spheres of the economy, energy
and security.
‘Moscow and Ankara can play a very important role in solving the
problem of Nagorno-Karabakh, since the positions of Russia and Turkey
are quite similar,’ Vlasov said.
‘Both sides are interested in getting out of the vicious circle of
the conflict, which clearly retards the development of the entire
South Caucasus region. I think some agreements will be reached
on encouraging the actions of Russia and Turkey as moderators and
facilitators of the negotiation process, something that Ankara and
Moscow have sought since August 2008,’ he continued.
‘The effect of these agreements on the actual course of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement depends not only on Ankara and
Moscow, but also on other participants in the negotiating process. And
yet it seems to me that the strengthening ties between Moscow and
Ankara are a positive signal to those who are interested in peace
and stability in the South Caucasus.’