ArmInfo. Turkish President Recep Erdogan continues to successfully use the contradictions between Moscow and Washington for his own purposes, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Academician Ruben Safrastyan expressed such an opinion to ArmInfo.
"This, in particular, is indicated by the recent entry of Turkish troops into Syria and now into Iraq. Thus, Turkey violated the rights of internationally recognized sovereign states. Nevertheless, no country in the world, including the United States and Russia, raised this issue. Thus, despite its own interests in the region of the Greater Middle East, the international community continues to close its eyes to Turkey's actions in Iraq and Syria, "Safrastyan noted.
On May 27, Turkey, under the pretext of a ground and aerial anti-terrorist operation, invaded the north of Iraq. The purpose of the Turkish Armed Forces "Operation Claw" in the Iraqi region of Hakurk is to "neutralize the terrorists and liquidate the centers of their location".
According to the academician, as a century ago, Turkey is trying to actively use the geopolitical situation. Thus, if in 1921 Ankara managed to successfully take advantage of the contradictions between the collective West and Bolshevist Russia, today Erdogan also successfully plays on the contradictions between the United States and Russia. In particular, the matter concerns the purchase by Turkey of American fighters of the fifth generation F-35 and Russian anti-aircraft missile systems S-400. The turkologist considers the postponement of the delivery of the Russian S-400 air defense missile systems to Turkey from June of this year to July as another diplomatic trick by Ankara, which intends to use this month to continue backstage talks with the United States. Safrastyan is convinced that Ankara's obvious anti-Americanism, its friendship with Moscow, does not in any way prevent Turkish backstage games held simultaneously with the United States and Russia. The academician considers the strengthening of the regional positions of Turkey to be the only and far-reaching goal of such games. The statements of the Turkish ambassador to the United States, Serdar Kilic, about the alleged intention of Ankara to deploy American F-35s in two specific areas of Turkey outside the area of coverage of Russian S-400, Safrastyan regards as another primitive trick. In his opinion, to use fighter aircraft, the Turkish Armed Forces do not even need to change the location.