| PanARMENIAN.Net/ «In fact, Turkey’s regional policy, which got stuck on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, promotes freezing of the Azeri-Armenian conflict,» Turkish researcher Burcu Gültekin writes in a book titled Prospects of Regional Cooperation in NATO South-Eastern Borders: Development of the Turkish-Russian Cooperation in the South Caucasus. In the author’s opinion, policy of prevalence of interests of «security at the expense of economy» between Turkey and Azerbaijan strongly limits Turkish diplomacy in the region. «Turkish regional policy has become captive of relations with Azerbaijan, i.e. pro-Azeri position is the price to be paid for implementation of the BTC oil pipeline,» she believes.
In Burcu Gültekin’s opinion, opening of borders may promote improvement of Turkey’s image in the Armenian society, lead relations between the two countries out of today’s crisis. The book also reads, «In 1920 the Soviet authorities joined Nakhichevan with Azerbaijan in spite of the protest of Armenia. Georgia, Armenia, Nakhichevan, situated on the Caucasus-Turkey border, are a knot of network communication and are situated in the center of North-South and East-West corridors. The Caucasus has the potential of becoming a bridge between Turkey and Russia,» the research book says.
The Turkish scholar comes against international transport projects, planned in the region, i.e. East-West: Kars-Akhalkalaki and North-South: Kazvin-Resht-Astara leaving out Armenia. «It would be expedient to restore and use the already available Kars-Gyumri and Sochi-Sukhumi-Yerevan-Julfa railways. Burcu Gültekin believes that laying new railways will only aggravate the situation in the region and will freeze the conflicts available.
The book caused acute negative response in Azerbaijan. |
Akgün Medya