Turkey's ambitions are much greater than its real capabilities. Turkologist comments on Ankara's foreign policy. "Armenpress"

Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan, commenting on Turkey's foreign policy, believes that the country's ambitions are much greater than its real capabilities.

In a conversation with "Armenpress", the Turkologist noted that Ankara, however, is taking steps to approach these ambitions with real opportunities.

According to him, at the moment, Turkey, although it remains a middle power, still wants to act as one of the most powerful states in the world.

"By giving a green light to Sweden on NATO membership, Turkey essentially made a deal with the US and was able to get what it had been fighting for for about three years. For a long time, the USA did not agree to ratify the 23 billion dollar deal related to the updated military aircraft. The ratification of Sweden's membership was just a pretext in that deal, while it is actually about the ratification of the supply of forty American F-16 fighter jets. The Turkish army already has about eighty such fighters and the American side should also modify them. It is important for the US that Turkey continues to be its faithful ally in the Middle East, because its geographical position and the presence of a combat-ready army are of great importance from the point of view of implementing NATO's plans in that region," said the Turkish expert.

According to Safrastyan, Turkey also got what it wanted from Sweden, as official Stockholm began to impose stricter conditions and restrictions on public speaking by Kurdish exile figures in Sweden, thus abandoning its policy of allowing people to freely express themselves and carry out actions. the opportunity.

"Turkey's decision was not a surprise for Russia, which is in conflict with the North Atlantic Alliance. From the beginning, it was clear to everyone, including Moscow, that Ankara would sooner or later take that step and, by and large, could not prevent new members from joining the alliance, Turkey was just trying to solve its problems during that entire period. It is no coincidence that the official reaction of the Russian side was quite calm," said our interlocutor.

Turning to the question of whether the Turkish side's political negotiations in the South Caucasus direction are not excluded, taking into account the regular mention of the so-called "Zangezur Corridor", which is opposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Turkologist noted that although Ebrahim Raisi during his visit to Turkey, another even talked about the inadmissibility of red lines and border changes in the region, however, official Ankara will continue to pursue its policy, the goal of which is for Turkey and Azerbaijan, violating the territorial integrity of Armenia, to establish a direct land connection between each other.

Full article at the source site.