Republican: Armenia must choose between being an ally of Russia or a  vassal of Turkey

ArmInfo. The Azerbaijani government is not only implementing an anti-Armenian policy, but also an anti-Russian one, challenging Russia's presence in the South Caucasus, as stated by Eduard Sharmazanov, former Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament and Secretary of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), at a press conference in Yerevan.  In this regard, Sharmazanov explained that Russia's primary competitor in the South Caucasus region, is the Turkish world. He added that pan-Turkism arose not so much against Armenia, but as a challenge to Russia.

The Republican pointed out that in the global context, the South  Caucasus is an arena of rivalry between Russia, Iran and Turkey. He  believes that Armenia could have seized the opportunity that has  arisen if the country were led by a pro-government  capable of  establishing cooperation with both Moscow and Tehran.  However, he  noted that the current leadership is instead leading the country  under Ankara's protectorate.  Additionally, he questioned why  the  Yerevan-Ijevan-Kazakh-Baku route is not being discussed with the same  persistence in Armenia, instead of the  so-called "Zangezur  corridor," in the context of unblocking transport communications. He  emphasized that it would be more beneficial for Armenia both   economically and logistically.

 "Nikol Pashinyan discusses the "Crossroads of Peace" and talks about  unblocking the borders. However, due to his miscalculations in   foreign policy, we now found ourselves in this challenging situation.  He shifted from the Russian negotiating platform to one that is  Western-oriented and aligned with Turkish- Azerbaijani platform. This  project does not meet the interests of the Armenian people and  actually involves Armenia in the pan-Turkic project," Sharmazanov  explained.  In this regard, the former Vice-Speaker of parliament  stated that Armenia's  focus should be on the International  North-South Transport Corridor, as this is where Armenia's interests  align with those of Russia and Iran.

"In our region, we do not have many options:  either we are allies of  Russia or vassals of Turkey. There should be either a Russian  military base or a Turkish military presence in Armenia," Sharmazanov  concluded.