Home >> Former USSR >> Chechnya & the Caucasus  Email  Print Armenia Becomes The Focus of Attention in the Caucasus Gohar Gevorgian - 11/11/2007 Director of NAA (National Academy of Armenia) Institute of Oriental Studies Ruben Safrastian was the guest of "Hayatsk" club on Wednesday. He touched upon the three factors in the region, mentioning that the Armenian factor has gained a significant role in the world and especially Turkish policy. "In this case, Armenia is in the focus of attention in the region", he added.
The situation in Iraqi Kurdistan is full of serious consequences Ruben Safrastian is sure that the latest developments around Iraqi Kurdistan of the North Iraq are full of serious consequences. According to him, if Turkey starts a war, it will raise the Kurdish factor not only in the region, but also in Turkey. The leading "Justice and development" party has many Kurd members, and in case of military operations, Turkey will lose part of its support and will weaken. Besides, the Kurdish "Democratic society" party, registered in Turkey, appealed Turkey for adding a point about the local autonomy of Kurdistan. Consequently, according to Safrastian, Turkey feels the activization of the Kurdish factor not only politically, but also economically, and it will not perform wide military operations. "Turkey uses the threats about wide military operations to strengthen its position in the region and to show the regional countries that it is a center of power", underlined Ruben Safrastian.
Turkey decreased its efforts to be integrated in EU Turkey is not only involved in the Middle Eastern policy recently, but also it finds there the bases for strengthening its position, according to the Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies, "Turkish European diplomacy has weakened recently, in this case EU attitude is not important for Turkey", he said.
Adoption of Resolution 106 is the Armenians’ victory Mr. Safrastian is sure that adoption of Resolution 106 by US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee is the victory of all Armenians that showed the role of the Armenian factor in the world. "Armenian factor has its place in the world, and Turkey could only slow down that process with its menaces", mentioned the Turkologist. Russia is still the leader in the region "Russian diplomacy shows intentions in the recent period to recover the spheres of influences of the former USSR in the Middle East. What about the present crisis in North Iraq, Russia still shows a waiting attitude to those incidents. But we should not forget that Russia has close relations with Kurdish organizations and kept those connections", announced Mr. Safrastian. According to him, Russia still keeps the leader’s position in the region thanks to the Russian military bases allocated in Armenia, its wide economic relations, the gas factor in Armenia and the political connections.
The situation of Georgia will not change anything in the region. The regime of Sahakashvili is greatly supported by the United States, and the Georgian opposition also doesn’t have a well-disposed attitude towards Russia. In this case if the Georgian opposition can fall down the regime of Sahakashvili, it will not change the whole geopolitical situation in the region, according to Ruben Safrastian. The Islamic factor will not change the regime in Azerbaijan "Though Azerbaijani authorities and Americans do everything to weaken the Islamic factor, it becomes stronger mainly thanks to Islamic extremist representatives. It’s not an anti-Americanism, it’s Islamism that, of course, has a strong whiff of anti-Americanism. I don’t think that this Islamic factor will change the regime in Azerbaijan", mentioned Ruben Safrastian.
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