ArmInfo. Turkey's appetites for the Great Turan project are in no way limited to the South Caucasus and will inevitably affect Russia. A similar opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by Viktor Nadein-Raevsky, a senior researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"In its actions, Turkey, of course, continues to be guided by the idea of creating a" Great Turan "from the Adriatic to the Pacific basin. In parallel, Ankara will continue negotiations with Moscow, taking into account its own losses in the Middle East. That, however, does not in any way cancel Turkish intentions to open a new front against Russia in the Caucasus, proceeding from both domestic and foreign policy priorities, - he is convinced.
The provocation of Azerbaijan to the war with Armenia, according to the forecasts of the Russian expert, will end, if it has not already ended with the final withdrawal of Baku into the orbit of Ankara's influence. Turkey's efforts to involve in the Karabakh settlement, to achieve a status equal to that of Russia, in Moscow, in his opinion, is assessed as destructive. However, Russia can no longer avoid discussions of the problem with Erdogan. First of all, due to the fact that it is Erdogan who today is the main player provoking the war.
According to Nadein-Raevsky's estimates, Moscow is well aware of the threat of its own direct involvement in hostilities in Artsakh. And as long as there is no direct attack on Armenia, Russia will try with all its might to avoid the escalation of the war in Artsakh into a major war through diplomatic efforts towards its end.
Against this background, the expert assesses the visits of Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as part of Ankara's far-reaching plans. And the adventurous actions of the Azerbaijani-Turkish tandem in relation to Artsakh, in his opinion, significantly brought the realization of Turkey's pan-Turkic dreams closer. At the same time, the Turkish factor in Central Asia is strong only at first glance. On the whole, Nadein-Raevsky assesses the idea of forming the Great Turan as extremely ambitious and therefore unrealizable. Nevertheless, Ankara's attempts to realize the unrealizable, according to his forecasts, will be accompanied by great losses for the peoples involved by Turkey in these plans.