Crossroads of Peace project should be considered in context of  geopolitical developments - expert 

ArmInfo.Armenia and Kazakhstan, despite a number of difficulties, continue to remain in a single security system. Political scientist, Doctor of Political Sciences Vahe Davtyan stated in an interview with Erkir Media in the context of the recent visit to Armenia of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

According to him, we are talking, first of all, about the security  system within the Eurasian Economic Union. "The fact that the  President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced Astana's  intentions to begin supplying goods of 37 items to Armenia for a  total amount of $350 million is a clear manifestation of the  integration processes taking place in the EAEU markets, since it is  in this association that all the necessary infrastructure and  regulatory mechanisms to intensify relations," the political  scientist noted.

"The map that the RA government recently published fits well with the  logic of the creation of the Europe- Caucasus-Asia corridor, proposed  in the early 2000s and the main purpose of which is to bypass the  territory of Russia. It is for this reason that in the same period of  time Russia, Iran and India came up with an alternative project  "North-South. If we consider the issue from the point of view of  West-East relations, then here too there is a project for the Middle  Corridor, which is local in nature and in which Armenia is invited.  In this case, we are talking about establishing connections between  Central Asia, the South Caucasus and further through Turkey with  Europe. Two years ago, this project was called the Turan corridor,  using the transit capabilities of Armenia. Obviously, this project  corresponds to the interests of the collective West, since it is also  designed to exclude the possibility of using Russian  infrastructures," the political scientist said.

The political scientist also pointed out the fact that an important  part of West-East communications is the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.  But this road is tied to the Chinese One Road project, and for  Azerbaijan, as well as for Turkey, there are serious problems in the  context of transporting strategic goods. "This was the reason for the  emergence of the Crossroads of Peace project, an integral part of  which is the so-called Zangezur Corridor, which meets, first of all,  the interests of Turkey and the West," the expert emphasized.

He also pointed to Kazakhstan's participation in a number of  so-called Turkic projects. We are talking, in particular, about the  initiative to create an army of Turan, which caused a sharply  negative reaction from official Moscow.

At the same time, Davtyan recalled the attempts made by the current  head of Kazakhstan during the time of Nursultan Nazarbayev to  implement a multi-vector policy, primarily with the United States.  These actions conflict with the interests of the EAEU countries, but  they are an important component in maintaining the national interests  of Kazakhstan. Occupying an advantageous geographical position, the  country is forced to maneuver between the Russian Federation and  China, while developing relations with Turkey. It is these four  actors that today form the security architecture in the Central Asian  region. "Tokayev, developing relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan,  with which various geo-economic initiatives are being carried out, is  making an attempt to intensify relations with Armenia. This is the  right policy that corresponds to the interests of official Astana,"  Vahe Davtyan said.