Monday, September 16 2019 15:04

ArmInfo. Despite the foreign  policy activity mainly determined by internal political problems,  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has no time for Armenia and  Artsakh. Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the  National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Academician Ruben Safrastyan  expressed this opinion to ArmInfo.

 "I don't think that the Erdogan's government today has the  appropriate resources to destabilize the situation around Artsakh,  and especially in the South Caucasus as a whole. This will become  possible only if Turkey loses in its Middle East games. So far,  Ankara is actively working in the Syrian direction, is fighting  against the Kurds and is making every effort to knock out another  concession from the EU, blackmailing Europeans with refugees from  Syria, "he stressed.

According to the academician, the Turkish president today has many  problems, both with the US and the EU, as well as domestically. And  if the first ones are derived by Turkish politics eastward, the  second ones are the result of the unfavorable socio-economic  situation in the country. According to Safrastyan, the victory of the  People's Republican Party of Turkey in the recent Istanbul mayoral  elections is the clearest indicator of domestic political trends.   However, the Turkologist does not assess the departure of former  Prime Minister and former Foreign Minister of Turkey Ahmed Davudoglu  from the Justice and Development party as a significant threat to  Erdogan's government. 

According to him, the neo-Ottoman ideologist Davutoglu and several of  his associates are not able to create a second pole in Turkey, to  undermine the positions of the ruling AKP, primarily due to the fact  that they continue to be associated with Erdogan even after leaving  the AKP.  "Davutoglu has a positive reputation, especially in  comparison with Erdogan's, only in the West, but not within the  country. As a politician, he is more balanced, has great authority in  the West, and at least negotiations can be conducted with him. Inside  Turkey, Erdogan is the only real competitor and the Kemalists, the  People's Republican Party, can become an alternative AKP political  force, especially given that the first step is the victory of the  candidate of the People's Democratic Party Ekrem Imamoglu in  Istanbul, "he said.