Karabakh conflict - a core element of power struggle in Armenia: Turkish expert

By  Trend

Armenia is suffering in a regional dilemma due to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, Caucasus Expert of Strategic Outlook Mehmet Fatih Oztarsu told Trend.

According to him, the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict became both Armenia's foreign policy problem as well as a domestic political tool.

“I don't see a possibility that Armenia will change its rhetoric on Karabakh issue, because it is a core element of the power struggle in the country. If a person tries to change this direction, he cannot see his next day in the government,” Oztarsu said.

Commenting on the statements of Nikol Pashinyan concerning the Turkish-Armenian relations, expert said that Armenia always shows its willingness to improve relations with Turkey and it is not a new step which was created by Pashinyan.

“But the only problem is about Armenian request on [Turkey abstaining from] the precondition issue. So, here we face several independent variables such as Turkish Foreign Policy and Azerbaijani Foreign Policy as well as other regional countries' politics. It is difficult to calculate all elements for a short period,” the expert noted.

According to him, opening the Turkish-Armenia border at the price of worsened relations with Azerbaijan is impossible for today, even if, as Ozstarsu said, that could lead to the actual normalization of relations.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.