Turkish expert: Armenia is somewhere on 10th line on Turkiye`s  foreign policy agenda

ArmInfo. Armenia is somewhere on the 10th line on Turkiye's foreign policy agenda; relations with the US come first. Turkish political scientist Mustafa Aydin stated on March 20 during a discussion on the topic "South Caucasus: trends and prospects in the context of the Ukrainian war," speaking at an international political science conference organized by the Caucasus Institute.

He explained that Turkiye's  expected actions in Iraq and Syria this  summer are the second on the agenda, the third is relations with  Greece and the EU, as well as the situation in the Mediterranean, and  the fourth is Ukraine and the Black Sea.

"And Armenia is somewhere on the 10th line. That is, no one  officially, publicly discusses Armenia in Turkey. This is different  from what it was 10-15 years ago. I believe that this situation is  due to the policy of the authorities. There is no such discourse  related to Armenia in Turkiye.

It is obvious that the authorities have decided to transfer bilateral  relations to the trilateral platform of Armenia-Azerbaijan-Turkiye.  Many are based on the form in which a peace treaty between Armenia  and Azerbaijan will be signed and whether it will be," the expert  emphasized.

According to Aydin, this approach is kept because the strategic  connection with Azerbaijan is important for Turkiye - this is one of  the cornerstone issues for Ankara in order to turn Turkiye into an  energy hub, and now this is even more important, since the EU wants  to oust Russia from the energy sector.

"Geographically, Azerbaijan is more important for Turkiye than  Armenia," the expert emphasized, while pointing out the importance of  opening all communications in the region, and not just the road from  Nakhijevan to Azerbaijan. According to him, this is important for  Turkiye.

At the same time, Aydin noted that in order for Turkiye to challenge  Russia in the South Caucasus, it needs to gain a foothold in this  region. "TTurkiye is strengthening itself in Azerbaijan, and to some  extent is doing the same in Armenia. But, you need to understand that  Turkiye will not be able to stand on its own two legs in the South  Caucasus without Armenia. If Ankara loses influence in Azerbaijan, it  will no longer be able to challenge Russia and it will have to return  to the borders of the Cold War," the political scientist concluded.