The so-called ‘declaration of Shushi’ only attests to Turkey’s future advancement towards the Caucasus. This is what Special Representative of the Russian State Duma for Migration and Citizenship, Director of the Institute of CIS countries Konstantin Zatulin said during today’s Sochi-Yerevan teleconference.

According to him, the ‘declaration’ also affirms that Azerbaijan is, in some sense, a mediator for Turkey’s interests.

“Baku is currently paying off the debt it owes to Ankara, taking into consideration Turkey’s full support to Azerbaijan during the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Based on the ideas and principles stated in the ‘declaration of Shushi’, it’s hard for a specialist to find out where Turkey ends and where Azerbaijan begins. A military-political alliance is being declared, and the sides will view any attempt of a third party as a threat to both sides. In the ‘declaration’, the sides have also mentioned Armenia and the victory over the latter a few times and have even condemned any action for recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and Azerbaijan has signed under the ‘declaration’,” the Russian MP emphasized.

As Zatulin mentioned, Turkey and Azerbaijan talk about complying with the requirements of the United Nations and state that their cooperation isn’t targeted against third countries, but Armenia, the ‘Armenian occupation’ of Nagorno-Karabakh and ‘Armenian machinations’ are mentioned a few times in the text. “All this leaves no doubt that the ‘declaration’ is targeted against Armenia,” Zatulin said.

According to the Russian politician, even though the document doesn’t impact Russia in any way, except for the point about the operation of the joint monitoring center in Azerbaijan, it’s clear that Moscow, being linked to Armenia with contractual obligations, must assess the fact that Ankara and Baku have chosen Shushi as the venue to sign the anti-Armenian document.