“Azerbaijan’s wish to see Turkey among the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries is understandable, as Ankara is on the side of Baku. Should it happen, it would of benefit to Azerbaijan. That is the reason why I do not think Turkey will ever be among the mediators, Konstantin Zatulin, First Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the CIS and Relations with Russian Nationals Abroad, RF State Duma, and Vice-Chairman of the Armenian-Russian Commission for Parliamentary Cooperation, told NEWS.am.

Turkey’s actions as mediator would cause an obviously sharp reaction by the Armenian side. “Armenia is still under the impression of the failed rapprochement with Turkey. The process actually failed because of Azerbaijan. After hesitating, Turkey preferred to break the agreements with Armenia because of Azerbaijan, which put the question point-blank by speaking of betrayal on the part of Ankara. At that point, was faced with a dilemma: either ignoring Azerbaijan’s statement at the cost of n economic agreement, destruction of the ideological structure, which had been built for many years after the collapse of the Soviet Union on the basis of Heydar Aliyev’s words ‘two countries, one people’ or thwarting the rapprochement process. Turkey sees Azerbaijan as a springboard to Central Asia, and would not like to lose Azerbaijan,” the expert said.

The aforementioned circumstances, as well as Turkey’s news policy aimed at developing relations with the Middle East and Islamizing the country outweighed the benefit of the Armenian-Turkish relations, which opened the door to Turkey’s new image in Europe. “Establishing relations with Armenia would have improved Turkey’s chances in the European Union. It could have also been a kind of way out for the new U.S. Administration. As you know, during the election period the U.S. President did not rule out the possibility of official recognition of the Armenian Genocide. During the post-election period, however, he was faced with the need to consider Turkey’s interests. If Turkey had preferred rapprochement with Armenia, it would have been a great help for Barack Obama in going back on his promises about the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. To date, the Armenian community in the U.S. viewed the U.S. President as a person who has not fulfilled its promises,” Zatulin said.

The result was that Azerbaijan thwarted not only the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement process, but also Turkey’s prospects for gaining a new image in Europe. “Of course, under the circumstances, Azerbaijan would be more than happy if Turkey became a mediator. However, Turkey will never become one due to its biased position. The other mediators understand that Turkey is unable to perform this role. Turkey is a country overcommitted to Azerbaijan,” Zatulin said.