According To Alexander Iskandarian, Armenia-Turkey Relations Cannot

ACCORDING TO ALEXANDER ISKANDARIAN, ARMENIA-TURKEY RELATIONS CANNOT BECOME SO WARM THAT ARMENIA WILL NOT NEED RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE

Noyan Tapan
Jan 18, 2010

YEREVAN, JANUARY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia has three main problems:
establishment of Armenian-Turkish relations, Nagorno Karabakh
settlement, and international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Sergey Arutyunov, the Head of the Caucasus Department of the RF Academy
of Sciences Institute of Ethnography and Anthropology, expressed such
an opinion stressing that these three problems should not be linked
with each other. In general, according to him, the latest regional
developments give a ground to be optimistic about the future: the
Russian-Armenian relations remain at a high level, and meanwhile the
process of normalizing Armenia-Turkey relations is praiseworthy.

"Russian Foreign Minister’s visit to Yerevan once more showed that the
issues of Nagorno Karabakh conflict and Armenian-Turkish relations
should be viewed separately," Alexander Skakov, an expert of the
Russian Institute of International Studies, mentioned in his turn.

According to him, there are both new opportunities and new challenges
in the normalization process of Armenia-Turkey relations. As A. Skakov
declared, there are also challenges for Russia as Armenia will not
need the Russian military base in case Armenia has normal relations
with Turkey.

Alexander Iskandarian, the Director of the Caucasian Institute in
Armenia, opposing to the speaker said that he does not think that
Armenia-Turkey relations can become so warm that Armenia will not need
the Russian military base in its territory. According to him, these
troops are of much political significance and strengthen Armenia’s
and Russia’s strategic cooperation.

Vladimir Kazimirov, the former representative of the RF President in
the Nagorno Karabakh negotiations, predicted that the Armenian-Turkish
rapprochement can have a positive impact on the conflict. According
to him, Turkey has a constructive approach and in spite of much liking
for Azerbaijan is not for power methods.