“It is small wonder that Turkey discusses Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in international arena. The exception will not be also the forthcoming meeting of Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Moscow,” political scientist Yervand Bozoyan told NEWS.am. “I consider that Russian FM’s visit to Armenia is directly linked with Karabakh conflict.”

Asked whether Turkish Premier’s visit to Moscow is interrelated with Russian FM’s simultaneous visit to Yerevan, Bozoyan replied: “I find difficulty in naming the issue that underlies in Lavrov’s visit, but the fact that Armenia-Turkey rapprochement and Karabakh conflict will be touched upon in the course of the visit is evident.”

According to him, Turkey repeatedly states that Nagorno-Karabakh peace process should progress for Armenia-Turkey relations not to freeze. “Current Armenia-Turkey relations are also on agenda of world powers. Turkey takes an advantage of this fact and raises the issue of Karabakh conflict breakthrough at the meetings with all countries’ leaders. The same happened during Erdogan’s visit to Washington and this scenario is likely to repeat in Moscow,” the analyst outlined. “Obviously, Armenia-Turkey relations are dependent on NK issue. The U.S., EU and other international structures make no bones about Turkey’s clear arguments — Karabakh conflict and Armenia-Turkey relations are interrelated. In this context Russian FM Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Yerevan is coherent, and this triggers concern.”

Asked whether he shares the opinion that Russia will try to pressurize Armenia to make concessions on Karabakh conflict, Bozoyan replied: “Indeed, Turkey will approach Russia, but I cannot say how the latter will respond, and whether it will subsequently exert pressure on Armenia or not.”

L.A.