ArmInfo. In a strategic sense, Turkey has a formulated task - to become in the regional plan a leading pivotal state, a power center making decisions in the Middle East. Academician Ruben Safrastyan, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Armenia, expressed this opinion at a meeting with reporters, referring to the situation in the Middle East that has aggravated recently.
"If we analyze the policy of Turkey in the region in recent years, we will see that Turkey is able to achieve these goals with its actions", Safrastyan said.
The political scientist recalled that, thanks to its armed forces, Turkey carried out aggression and ensured a presence in Northern Syria, in fact, occupying about 8 thousand square km of territory in this area.
Safrastyan is confident that Turkey's foreign policy is entering a new stage, sparing no military potential, Erdogan is expanding its military presence not only in Syria, but also on the coast of Northern Cyprus, while also transferring troops to Libya.
"As for Syria specifically, here we saw that over the years a certain agreement has been reached between the leaders of Russia and Turkey, which resulted in a blow to the Islamic state," he said.
At the same time, Safrastyan drew attention to the disagreements between Putin and Erdogan, in particular regarding Idlib, which continues to remain under the influence of Turkey, which, in turn, is unacceptable to the Syrian government. Touching upon US-Iran relations, the expert noted that at the moment the first tactical stage of the US-Iran conflict has ended. The next stage, he believes, will move to a strategic plane that will address more important issues, in particular, in the context of Iran's intention to put an end to the presence of US forces in the Middle East.
"I think that in the next 1-2 years the Middle East will be restless," the expert concluded.