Defense Ex  Minister: Erdogan s  intention to topple Asad -   another  regular evidence of geopolitical competition between Moscow and  Ankara 

ArmInfo. Erdogan s intention to topple Asad  is just another regular evidence of geopolitical competition between Moscow and Ankara, Vagharshak Harutyunyan, the former Defense minister of Armenia, expressed his opinion to ArmInfo.

On November 29, Reccep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Turkey initiated a  military operation in Syria to put an end to Bashar Asad's  government. The joint operation of Turkish army with Syrian Free  Army, entitled as Euphrates Schield is held to put an end to the  cruel regime of Asad, which  in essence a state terrorism.  "For  Kremlin, Erdogan's statement is somethingnew and it needs to be  clarified". This statement, which in essence derives from all the  previous, and from our understanding of the situation in the region  where Russian Armed forces are the only power, whose  presence in the  region has a  legitimate basis - I.e. the appropriate request of  legitimate authorities. It is very important to remember that,"  Dmitri Peskov, Russian President's  press Secretary

Harutyunyan mentioned also own suspicious position in respect to  Turkey's statements to refuse from European vector of development up  to  quitting NATO membership and to join EEU. Accentuating Turkey's  addiction to falsifications, he mentioned, that Turkey just tries to  get from Russia as much as possible, and after to return to NATO.   Within this, Moscow tries hard to isolate Turkey from NATO , and  

Russia's intention to sell  air defense systems to Turkey is pretty   logical in this context.  "Within this meaning, the military and   technical cooperation is the best tool for Russia. Moreover, the S-  400 in not a limit for Russia any more, because the latest armament  makes are never being sold. Russia has already developed S-500 and  Moscow holds the negotiation  on selling S-400 within the  consideration of the factor mentioned. But, considering the technical  possibilities of Russia, this deal will have much more political  dividends. To note, Russia has  similar  military-technical  cooperation with another NATO member - Greece."