By dissolving the only Kurdish party represented in the Turkish Parliament, Turkey delivered one more blow on its own reputation, Karen Bekaryan, Chairman of the European Integration NGO, told NEWS.am. According to him, Turkey has recently committed serious mistakes in implementing its foreign policy, and has created a serious domestic political problem for itself by dissolving the Kurdish party.

“The party has just been dissolved, and the event has not yet evoked many responses outside Turkey, but the dissolution of the party will not only affect the domestic political situation, but also deliver a blow on the country’s reputation,” the expert said. Bekaryan believes that “Turkey’s attempts to implement an independent foreign policy worsened its relations with the United States and Israel, which are Turkey’s traditional strategic partners.”

“Turkey’s relations with Israel came to mutual insults, and its relations with the United States even worsened when Premier Recep Erdogan rejected President Barack Obama’s proposal to dispatch troops to Afghanistan,” Bekaryan said. “Afghanistan is a priority for the United States and NATO, and Turkey is the second NATO member-state in terms of numerical strength,” he said. “The superpowerful European lobby’s unfavorable attitude to Turkey will play a great role in the Turkey-U.S. relations,” Bekaryan said. He believes that the judgment on dissolution of the Kurdish party will complicate the negotiations for Turkey’s membership in the EU.

“Neighboring Iran gave a slap in Turkey’s face by flatly rejecting its proposal for uranium enrichment. Turkey has tarnished its international reputation and cannot find any further pretexts for keeping the Armenian-Turkish border closed. If Turkey refuses to reopen the border this time, the world powers will give a prompt response – the United States and other countries, which are interested in the border being reopened, will recognize the Armenian Genocide,” the expert said.

T.P.