Valdai Club

The multidirectional geopolitical interests of regional and external players, which directly influence the difficult socio-political transformations in the region, keep us from being optimistic about the rapid transformation of the South Caucasus into a zone of peace – even if some document on the normalisation of relations between Baku and Yerevan has formally acquired legal status, Andrei Areshev writes.

Turkey’s foreign policy activity is probably designed to create an additional platform for foreign policy bargaining with Moscow on issues of interest to Ankara, and by no means only in the South Caucasus. Along with bilateral interaction with Azerbaijan and with the countries of Central Asia, political, economic and humanitarian cooperation within the framework of the “Turkic Council” is being strengthened, writes political analyst Andrei Areshev, editor-in-chief of the Caucasus Studies Society website.

On July 26, 2018, Vladimir Putin met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of the 10th BRICS Summit in South Africa's Johannesburg. Strengthening of economic cooperation within the BRICS, further improvement of its activities implies closer interaction with Turkey, which implements a number of economic programs and infrastructure projects in Africa and Latin America.

Оn June 24, 2018, Recep Tayyip Erdogan gained an absolute majority in the presidential elections. According to Andrei Areshev, expert at the Center for Central Asian, Caucasian and Volga-Urals Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Science, Erdogan’s political era will extend beyond the five-year term and even lifetime presidency is now a possibility for him.

Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned on Monday after ten days of opposition protests. “The situation could be solved in various ways, but I will not resort to any of them. That is not mine. I leave the post of the head of this country,” Sargsyan was quoted as saying by his press office.

The change in Crimea’s political and legal status, which was completed in strict compliance with international law and current practices, ensured the physical safety of people, created the basis for ethnic and religious peace and stable socioeconomic development and helped maintain the balance of forces in the huge Black Sea region.