ArmInfo. Bilateral relations with Turkey provide Yerevan with an opportunity for a direct dialogue with Ankara, which, among other things, will contribute to the formation of rather specific, personal interests between the two countries. Founder and Head of the Armenian Institute of International and Security Affairs (AIISA). Safaryan Styopa (Stepan) told ArmInfo.
On January 11, a meeting between the deputy foreign ministers of Armenia, Russia, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan was held in Moscow in the actual "3 + 2" format (without Georgia). On December 13, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Yerevan and Ankara will appoint Special Envoys for negotiations on the normalization of relations. Later, the press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry welcomed Cavusoglu's statement, confirming Armenia's intentions to appoint its special representative for the dialogue.
"I do not exclude at all that during the negotiations of the special envoys a situation may arise in which the interests of Azerbaijan will directly conflict with the interests of Turkey. In this case, Ankara will have to choose between its own interests and the interests of its "younger brother". There are the OSCE Minsk Group format as well as, a trilateral format with the Russian Federation for Armenia and, in this light, Yerevan has absolutely no interest in conducting these negotiations within the framework of negotiations with Ankara, "he said.
According to the analyst, the main current issue in the upcoming negotiations with Turkey for Armenia is not so much the choice of a special representative, but the formation of its own clear national agenda. An agenda in which there should be no place for Azerbaijan. In this light, Safaryan did not rule out Ankara's attempts to link the negotiations with the issue of determining the status of Artsakh through the final closure of this issue. First of all, due to the fact that closing the issue of Artsakh's status is an agenda for Baku, which Aliyev is unable to implement independently.
"It should be noted that in fact Recep Erdogan is the first beneficiary of the "Zangezur Corridor", about which Aliyev is trumpeting everywhere. Accordingly, this issue will also immediately appear on the agenda of the talks of the special representatives. And here it is necessary to show flexibility and remove this issue from the Armenian -Turkish agenda. And if Turkey represents Azerbaijan, then it is necessary to clarify within what specific powers and on what basis it will act. It is also necessary to make it clear that if Ankara is unable to separate its own interests from those of Baku, then the Armenian-Turkish agenda simply does not exist, " the analyst remarked.
"Without a doubt, the same unblocking of the Armenian-Turkish border also contains risks for Armenia. But if Armenia is not able to manage these risks, then perhaps it is not worth trying to become a part of international relations at all? If we do not have the appropriate potential, then we have to made a clear decision to exist in isolation and not develop. But if we want Armenia to be considered a normal state, then we simply have to calculate, predict and resist all these risks. For so many years we have been a country closed to Turkey, but we see that this did not help to neutralize the risks emanating from Turkey. Accordingly, a clear strategy is needed to neutralize possible risks, "Safaryan summed up.