Monday, November 30 2015 05:52

 Turkey will not go beyond inflammatory rhetoric in the Karabakh conflict, as the leadership of the country is rather frightened with the deployment of S-400 missile systems in Syria, which may be potentially used against Turkish planes. Deputy Director of the CIS Institute Vladimir Zharikhin made such remarks when commenting on Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's statement saying that Turkey will do everything possible to help Azerbaijan "liberate its occupied lands," Gazeta.ru reports.  

Zhrikhin is sure Turkey will try its best to increase its influence on Azerbaijan to use it in the conflict with Russia - the strain in the relations emerged after Turkish air forces shot sown Russian Su-24.  At the same time, the expert said, Ilham Aliyev is 'a wise politician' and will not take anyone's side. In addition, he said, Azerbaijan has already suggested its mediation to reconcile Russia and Turkey.  "When a country wants to become a mediator, it distances itself from the conflicting sides, and it means that Azerbaijan is distancing itself from Turkey," the expert said. 

Aleksey Malashenko, a Russian orientalist, believes that both the Russian and the Turkish sides are speculating on the issue of the Caucasus. "Davutoglu's statement was a response to the suggestion of our parliamentarians to criminalize the Armenian genocide denial (Just Russia faction has submitted a bill on it - editor's note). All this is a political dirty tricks: neither the Karabakh conflict will be settled, not criminalization of the Armenian Genocide denial will bring anything," the expert said.  Fedor Lukyanov, Head of the Presidium of the Foreign ad Defense Policy, in turn, recalls that Turkey never changes its stands, but Davutoglu's statement was made for a reason. "Turkey hinted that its has a big influence on various points important for Russia and it can use that influence in various ways," Lukyanov said. "In addition, Russia does not want to involve in more conflicts  - Nagorny Karabakh -  as it will have to help Armenia under a relevant agreement."

"Earlier, Russia's foreign ministry sources said there are certain breakthroughs in the Karabakh conflict settlement. One of the peace options suggests that Armenia returns part of the lands to Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan pledges to refrain from the military settlement of the conflict. To take the situation in the conflict zone under control, CSTO peacekeepers may be deployed there. These ideas were discussed with the Russian foreign minister in Armenia, however, the Armenian side does not agree to return the lands around Karabakh, as Yerevan considers these territories as a security zone," Gazeta.ru writes. 

To recall, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu traveled to Azerbaijan Thursday, where he said: "New Turkish government will do its utmost for the liberation of Azerbaijan's occupied territories, mainly Nagorno-Karabakh and elimination of tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia." He also noted that Turkey will make efforts to normalize Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.  "We think that it is the only way to restore peace, security and prosperity in the Caucasus," he said.