Zardusht Alizade: "It would be easier for us to find a compromise with the Armenian society which is friendly to Turkey, but not the Armenian society, which depends on Russia"

"In the early 1990s Turkey was greatly interested in Azerbaijan and started to support our country strategically. Yet Azerbaijan turned out to be not quite a good partners. Turks began to train our servicemen, supply ammunitions and weapons here, but, in the end, they saw that Azerbaijan does not take due interest in the Karabakh issue", said famous political scientist Zardusht Alizade, speaking of the recent visit of Turkish President Abdullah Gul to Armenia.

According to him, Turkey maintains good neighbor relations with Syria, Iraq, Iran, Georgia, Russia - with everyone except for Armenia.

"The security of any country is measured with its relations with neighbors. In these conditions a government should set a dialogue and improve relations. In this sense, Turkey has done much: without having diplomatic relations with Armenia, it allowed Armenian citizens to come to Turkey for earning a living, thus making a part of Armenian society economically dependent on itself, like Russia did it with Azerbaijanis".

He said Ankara started to encourage development of Armenian-Turkish business relations and today some Armenians even voice statements that Turks are not enemies but neighbors and a gate to Europe. According to him, these voices are so far weaker on the background of those supporting relations with Russia, however, the struggle started, there is a split in the Armenian society and Turkey takes an advantage of it.

"Therefore, I think Gul's visit to Yerevan is a wise and brave step on the way of intensive dialogue. It reminds me of a ping-pong diplomacy between the US and China in the 1970s and "fighter diplomacy" when Iranian fighters went to the United States and US ones to Iran.

I think Gul has taken a positive step, which will promote improvement of relations between Armenia and Turkey and raise security and mutual understanding level in the region".

He said Gul's visit to Armenia will improve relations between Armenia and Turkey, Armenian economy will be bound to Turkish, Armenian society will start orienting on Turkey, thus reducing tensions between these two countries. "In these conditions, it will be easier for us to find a compromise with the Armenian society which is friendly to Turkey, but not the Armenian society, which depends on Russia, though there are a number of factors, including a military base used to control Armenian society and army, Armenian national myth of enmity towards Turks, Karabakh army around Yerevan, which controls Armenian opposition, Armenian politicians speaking for the union with Russia, including Levon Ter-Petrosyan, and Baku Saakyan, who controls Serzh and Robert and ensures Russia's control over Armenia".

According to the political scientist, Turkey has already started to change its policy, using the potential of peace, economy, cooperation and Azerbaijan should also change its approaches, as our country's current policy in this direction is completely ineffective.

Nevertheless, he thinks that initiative of the platform of cooperation and security is senseless, as the regional countries look in different directions.

/Day.Az/