No Need to Worry about Russia-Turkey Closer Ties: Expert

Armenia should not worry about the fact that Turkish and Russian ties are getting closer because Russia has always defended
Armenia's interests, Director of Noravank Foundation Gagik Harutyunyan said at a press conference today.

He also mentioned that though the Armenia-Turkey relations are developing continuously, there are also disagreements between the two countries.

The first one, according to Harutyunyan, is that Russia does not want Turkey to become a geopolitical player in our region.

"The objective of Medvedev's visit to Turkey was simply to bring the trade and economic relations to the level they were in 2008," explained he.

Further Harutyunyan mentioned that Turkey's aspirations to become an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair state will not come true.

"They will remain just wishes, because the world powers like US, Russia and France are not dreaming about making Turkey an [OSCE] co-chair state," said Harutyunyan.

Harutyunyan also said that the Armenia-Turkey normalization has not stopped: it is only the first stage that has ground to a halt.
"Summarizing the first stage we can say that Armenia stepped out of that stage with political dividends," said Harutyunyan, adding that a second stage of the normalization will start, as the "parties seem to be taking some steps in that direction."