Dashnaktsakan: Military cooperation between Russia and Turkey does  not bode well for Armenia

ArmInfo. Today, Armenians living in the north of Syria are not in danger. Head of Hay Dat central office and political issues of ARF Dashnaktsutyun Giro Manoyan said at a press conference in Yerevan on March 26.

"Our compatriots may be in danger if Turkey attempts to go deeper  into the north of Syria, but I believe that large international  players will not allow it to do so," Manoyan said. In this context,  he added that Ankara believes that it was successful in the operation  in Syrian Afrin, but in reality, everything is different, and the  Kurdish armed units have just decided to withdraw their forces and  conduct guerrilla war with the Turkish armed forces.

He regretted that the Syrian crisis has long ceased to be something  local, and more and more regional players are involved in the  conflict. According to Manoyan, Turkey also has an increasing  appetite and now threatens to invade Iraqi Sinjar. "I think that if  Ankara decides to invade Sinjar, then, most likely, the forces of  Iraqi Kurdistan and the Armed Forces of Iraq, despite the presence of  internal contradictions, will consolidate in the fight with the  Turkish Armed Forces, they will not tolerate these actions of  Ankara," said Manoyan.

Dashnaktsakan also believes that Recep Tayyip Erdogan held Turkey's  allies in NATO as hostages.  According to him, they still tolerate  all the actions of Turkey, because they are afraid of repeating the  scenario of 2016, when Ankara opened borders and the floods of  thousands of refugees poured into Europe.  However, Manoyan believes  that this situation cannot last long, even with this good game of  Ankara, which skillfully uses its opportunities.

ARFD representative stated that Erdogan will continue his policy in  the same spirit up to the presidential elections of 2019.

Commenting on the forthcoming Putin - Erdogan meeting in April 2017,  Manoyan expressed conviction that the Kremlin at this meeting will  point to Ankara on the red line, which should not be crossed over  Syria. "But I believe that a number of bilateral issues will be  discussed at the meeting, but it is important for us that  Russian-Turkish economic cooperation does not grow into military  cooperation." Military cooperation between Russia and Turkey does not  bode well for Armenia. Not once have we experienced it in the course  of history," concluded Manoyan.

Turkish Armed Forces General Staff  announced on January 20 the  launch of Operation Olive Branch against the Kurdish forces of the  People's Self-Defense Forces (part of the Democratic Syrian Forces  coalition) and the Democratic Union Party in Afrin, home to about 1.5  million Kurds and refugees from other areas of Syria. These  organizations Ankara considers as terrorist. On March 18, the General  Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces reported that the city of Afrin is  occupied.