Once the border with Turkey opens, Armenian “national identity” may be placed in jeopardy as “it leaned largely on aloof from Turkey,” this negative scenario was voiced by the Head of the Institute for Problems of Globalization Mikhail Delyagin in an interview with Day.az. According to him, this development might be one of the negative effects on Armenia-Turkey reconciliation.

Among the positive ones he mentioned improvement of the economic situation in Armenia. “However, the basic reason of border opening was evasion from war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Having made a step towards Turkey, Armenia secured itself with a temporary peace. This outweighs all,” stressed Delyagin.

Asked, whether Armenia-Turkey normalization might distance Armenia from Russia, he replied: “The fact of normalization itself will not alienate Armenia from Russia.”