Turkey has clearly formulated its goal, that is, to become the leading country in the region and a power center for making decisions. This is what Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia Ruben Safrastyan told reporters today.

According to him, if we look at Turkey’s policy in the Middle East from this perspective, we will see that it is achieving this goal.

“Turkey has been aggressive and ensured its presence in North Syria, and it recently made an official statement that 8,000 square kilometers of Syria’s territory are under Turkey’s control, meaning Turkey has occupied 8,000 square kilometers of its neighboring country’s territory. Turkey’s 40,000 soldiers are in Cyprus, and now the Turkish army is trying to move towards Libya. Turkey has military bases in Africa and Qatar. Last year, I came to the conclusion that Turkey’s foreign policy is entering a new stage, the essence of which is to use the armed forces, be it in Syria, Libya or elsewhere,” Safrastyan said and noted that Turkey has already officially declared that it supports the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. “This is also the result of a calculation since the withdrawal of US troops will help Turkey achieve its new goals,” he said.