ArmInfo. It is high time for Yerevan to get rid of illusions on the issue of normalizing relations with Turkey. Victor Nadein-Raevsky, Ph.D. in Philosophy, director of the Institute of Political and Social Studies of the Black Sea-Caspian region, senior researcher of IMEMO RAS (Russia) expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"Everything, literally everything, is on the surface and is visible even to the naked eye. Turkey and Azerbaijan act in a single bond and pursue a rather ingenious policy in all vectors, including the Russian one. Their cooperation with the West is also similarly situational, which Ankara and Baku also bring under their interests. Against such a background, the current policy and calculations of Yerevan, to put it mildly, raise questions," he said.
The expert believes that Ankara's periodic mention of the absence of prerequisites for the process of Armenian-Turkish normalization is Turkey's desire to formalize this process properly, first of all, for its visual perception by the West. While in reality there is simply no meaningful meaning in these statements, in his opinion. Since the mere linking of Turkey's own interests in this matter with the interests of Azerbaijan is already a precondition.
Meanwhile, according to Nadein-Raevsky, the interconnectedness of the processes between Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan is already quite openly mentioned in the administration of the Azerbaijani president. And before that, this was quite clear based on the statements of Turkish high-ranking officials. All this together allows us to assert that without the consent of Baku, Turkey will not make a single step towards the Armenian direction. "In other words, it is obvious that Baku will give Ankara consent to the same opening of the Armenian- Turkish border only when an agreement is reached in the Armenian-Azerbaijani direction. Opening the border between Armenia and Turkey without negotiations over the signing of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan is impossible. This is a reality that cannot be ignored. Everything else in the Armenian-Turkish normalization is derived precisely from this reality," the orientalist summed up.