ArmInfo. The fact that President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for the first presented territorial claims to Armenia based on the Pan-Turkist ideology, in my opinion, is not random., Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Academician Ruben Safrastyan, expressed this opinion to ArmInfo.
On October 15, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev voiced claims on the territory of Armenia during the 7th Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States in Baku. "Nakhchivan is separated from mainland Azerbaijan. Zangezur, an ancient Azerbaijani land, is located between them. Its transfer to Armenia created a geographical split of the Turkic world." - Aliyev stated.
"It is the pan-Turkic notes in this statement that can cause some concern. In general, Aliyev's statements are familiar to us. And this statement is not worth considering as a real threat to Armenia. As far as I understand, Aliyev's speeches, in general, reflect the essence and logic of the Baku discussions in during this summit. I can assume that this time they got a political, pan-Turkic direction, "the academician emphasized.
Moreover, in general, the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking states, according to Safrastyan's estimates, does not pursue clearly expressed military-political goals. Mainly at its meetings, issues of an economic, cultural and scientific-educational nature are discussed. Commenting on the Baku statements of Turkish President Erdogan also of a Pan-Turkist orientation, the Turkologist described them as yet another evidence of the use of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking states by Turkey and Azerbaijan as a platform for dictating their own will to other Turkic-speaking countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
It should be noted that Press Secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Anna Naghdalyan, also described Aliyev's recent statements as yet another claim to the territory of Armenia, this time focusing on pan- Turkism. "The distorted views of Azerbaijan and Turkey on regional security, based on racism and discrimination, impede the peaceful resolution of conflicts, contributing to instability in the region and beyond. All this makes it clear to us the priority of ensuring the security of the Armenian people in the region," Naghdalyan said.