When I listened to Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu's speech during a joint news conference with Ararat Mirzoyan in Ankara, I got the impression that Turkey is trying to assume the role of a mediator, to create a new negotiation format: Azerbaijan-Armenia-Turkey, Armenian academician and turkologist Ruben Safrastyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.
"I am convinced that Turkey's strategy in our region aims to take the region under its control and push Russia out of here. Russia has had a decisive role for decades; still has that role. Now Turkey wants to be a mediator and push Russia out of the region. In the coming months, we will see whether it is really so or not," emphasized Safrastyan.
The turkologist is convinced that despite Armenia's humanitarian assistance and diplomatic steps, Turkey does not plan to take practical steps to normalize relations and create a favorable environment for it.
"Turkey does not plan to take any steps; for example, toward the [re]opening of the Lachin Corridor. I am convinced that it is a joint Turkish-Azerbaijani plan, not only an Azerbaijani one. To hope that any humanitarian action can affect Turkey's strategy in relation to Armenia and Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] is simply naïveté," Safrastyan said.
According to him, Turkey is not interested in normalizing relations with Armenia as quickly as possible.
"For Turkey, Armenia does not have the importance of, for example, Israel or Greece, with whom relations are in a bad state. It is with them that Turkey sets itself the task of normalizing relations. We saw how they normalized the relations with Israel; they do everything to avoid the aggravation of relations with Greece.
Armenia does not pose a threat to Turkey. The decision of the Turkish elite regarding Armenia is as follows: ‘Armenia is more interested in normalizing relations with us than we are with Armenia. And Armenia has to pay a price for that.’ This is Turkey's strategy. It is stated there that Turkey does not establish diplomatic relations with Armenia because there are problems that need to be clarified. For more than 30 years, these problems are being clarified, they are being worded as preconditions. And recently, [Turkish president] Erdogan used the word ‘demand.’ Turkey has demands from Armenia, and no principled step will be taken by Turkey until Armenia accepts those demands. 
I highly appreciate that Armenia provided [humanitarian] assistance to Turkey [after the earthquakes there]; it is a normal human response, but it cannot lead to political changes. It is a humanitarian sphere, whereas the political and geopolitical sphere is something completely different," Ruben Safrastyan emphasized.