ArmInfo. Kazakhstan has been and will remain an arena of the major actors' clashing geopolitical interests - up to a global scale, political engineer Vigen Hakobyan told ArmInfo.
"In this context, forecasting a settlement of the situation in that country in the foreseeable future seems difficult. And, despite the fact that no reliable information on the masterminds and causes behind the Kazakh crisis is available, we can state one irrefutable fact: Moscow is the only one that reaped geopolitical dividends from the Kazakh riots - even if it was done my means of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). And it thereby strengthened its positions in Kazakhstan," he said.
In this context he draws parallels between the developments in Kazakhstan and last year's developments in Belarus. According to Mr Hakobyan, Russia's now stronger positions in Kazakhstan does not at all mean the other geopolitical actors are going to give up their projects in Kazakhstan. And Moscow has won just one - albeit a most important - battle. And now it has to strengthen its geopolitical positions in Kazakhstan with a view to retaining them.
According to Mr Hakobyan, the Kazakhstan riots caused not only Russian, but also Chinese influence to grow in Kazakhstan - primarily due to undermining Turkey's positions. In this context, Beijing's interest is, at least, freezing of Turkish projects in Kazakhstan.
As to an effect Turkey's geopolitical retreat from Kazakhstan could produce on the South Caucasus, which is one more unstable region, Mr Hakobyan does not rule out Ankara could enact a similar scenario in this region.
"The last implies Ankara's attempt to engaged in another geopolitical bargain in the south Caucasus in addition to the major Turkish target in the region, the 'Zangezur corridor'. Thus, the instability in Kazakhstan could easily be projected on to the South Caucasus," Mr Hakobyan said.