Thursday, January 13 2022 17:07

ArmInfo. Despite being seemingly different, the developments in Kazakhstan, Armenia and other post-Soviet regions are part of one geopolitical patchwork,  Viktor Nadein- Rayevsky, Director of the Institute of Black and  Caspian Sea Region, told ArmInfo. 

"In this context, I would not view the Kazakhstan developments apart  from the other impulses in the post- Soviet space. And considering  the picture in general helps understand the essence, with Russia and  Turkey, beyond doubt, in the foreground - with their partners next in  turn," the expert said.  Mr Nadein-Rayevsky points out that Turkey  has over the last decades been actively drawing closer to Kazakhstan.   As part of this process, thousands of Turkish teachers, urged by  notorious Muhammed Fethullah Gulen, arrived in Central Asia to open  Turkish colleges and universities there. In Kazakhstan alone, 26  Turkish educational institutions are working - besides cultural and   religious organizations.  According to Mr Nadein-Rayevsky, some  representatives of the Kazakh elite received high-quality education  in Turkey. And, for obvious reasons, they are not pro-Russian at all.   The result? Over recent years Kazakhstan and Turkey have been  actively drawing together in all the fields, primarily in the  military field. In this context, the expert noted he has for decades  been warning of Turkey's growing influence in Russia and in the  neighboring states. 

"And, naturally, in considering the causes of the Kazakh domestic  crisis, as well as similar developments in the entire post-Soviet  space, we should mention the prevalent West-sponsored NGOs. And like  everywhere in the post-Soviet space, they immediately responded to  the spontaneous popular protests provoked by the local oligarchic  clans. And they harnessed the situation confidently, which is not at  all something new in masterminding color revolutions," the expert  said. 

In this context, Mr Nadein-Rayevsky points out he has for years been  speaking of the interconnection between terrorist and Turkic threats  to the Central Asian states, as well as of the process that has been  intensified since Taliban came to power in Afghanistan. Disregarding  a link between these factors would be wrong, the experts believes, as  it is in the interests of the United States and its NATO allies.   

"In the context of the rapid response to the developments in  Kazakhstan by the Collective Security Treaty Organization, I see the  threats are being realized. I think, with the previous similar  developments in the post-Soviet space considered, the last decision  was to neutralize them. In this context, the complains by Ankara,  which is laying claims to being Justice of the Peace in Kazakhstan,  are only completing the picture.  And what is more, attempts are  being made to project the current instability in the South Caucasus  caused by the 44-day war on to Central Asia. And the now thwarted  attempts does not at all mean they will not be made in the future,"  the expert said