ArmInfo.The prospects for the further involvement of the "Turan" project and the Turkic-speaking states that are part of it, and the possibility of their implementation against Russia, among other things, depend on geopolitics, and more precisely, on Ukraine.
Victor Nadein-Raevsky, senior researcher at IMEMO named after E.M. Primakov RAS, Director of the Institute of the Black Sea-Caspian Region named after Artsruni told ArmInfo.
"Today, these states and Turan are already actively used by our geopolitical competitors and opponents against Russia. And for this reason, Ankara is actively trying to promote the implementation of this project. Baku, in turn, is trying to squeeze the maximum out of the situation, since the project will be implemented in transit including through its territory," he said.
According to the Turkologist, in this light, Azerbaijan is trying to position itself as a country linking Europe with Central Asia, hence all the latest steps of Baku in the direction of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Thus, with the support of Ankara, Baku is strengthening both its own positions and the foundation of the Turan project.
Noting that future scenarios in the Eurasian space largely depend, among other things, on Moscow's policy, Nadein-Raevsky noted that so far the latter is trying to counteract the observed trends by developing rather complex relations with Ankara. Thus, the Russian Federation is trying to restrain Turkey, which, especially recently, has been doing it with great difficulty.
In his opinion, a lot depends on the course and outcome of the Ukrainian war in this matter. According to Nadein-Raevsky, it was in parallel with this war that Ankara and Baku publicly stepped up their long- standing projects in the Central Asian direction.
"Another result of all this policy was the obvious changes in the geopolitical situation in the South Caucasus. Moreover, this process against Russia, among other things, is also sponsored by the West. Both Turkey and Azerbaijan are also trying to use this factor in order to strengthen the Turkic axis and their own influence in the East," Nadein-Raevsky summed up.