Alexander Iskandaryan: "The relations Turkey-Armenia and Turkey-Azerbaijan have really broken apart"

The current year was filled with events, important for Armenia in the external political sphere, according to famous Armenian political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan. He said paradoxically, in the sphere of relations with Russia and the United States, these were mainly the events, caused from beyond Armenia.

"I imply the so-called "five days war". The war has dramatically changed the situation in the South Caucasus, which influenced the dynamics of relations between Armenia and Russia and the United States. The sharp worsening of image, as well as Georgia's role and weight for the West, raised importance of Armenia (as well as Azerbaijan) which lead to the intensification of US policy in the region.

On the contrary, the internal political events in Armenia (February elections and the events following them) affected Armenia's image on the West and neutralization of this effect will take time, at least in 2009.

As for Turkey, the changes are merely revolutionary. I think it would be excessive to repeat facts, which are known to the reader, but it is clear that the whole background of the Armenian-Turkish relations have changed in the result of events in 2008. I do not support the idea that the Armenian-Turkish relations will improve quickly and we are looking forward the results of the spring local elections in Turkey.

But regardless of how the process moves forward, there have already been revolutionary changes. "Armenia issue" has become an issue of internal discourse in Turkey and the real breaking of Turkish-Armenian and Turkish-Azerbaijani relations has occured", said Iskandaryan.

As for the influence of the global financial crisis on the geopolitical situation in the region, he said it will affect all economies of the region and reduce the regional weight of energy producing countries

Speaking about the Karabakh conflict, he said the resolution of this conflict in the political perspective is impossible, it remained in a frozen state. The parties have no real readiness for resolution, military resolution is unserious, external powers are unable to force the sides to make compromises. The quo status is maintained.

"The most important event of this year was the Meindorf declaration".

As for his expectations from the 2009 in the sense of the resolution of the conflict and the overall development of the South Caucasus countries, Iskandaryan said he still expects pseudo fights on pseudo fields, and nothing real can occur on this scene.

"As for the overall development, two processes are important: continuation of the Armenian-Turkish dialogue and cooperation with Europe in the implementation of the Eastern Partnership program. I also expect the replacement of powers in Georgia.

And, certainly, in this unstable situation, which is observed due to the world financial crisis and the expected social programs, emergency situations are possible in all the countries of the region", concluded Iskandaryan.

/Day.Az/