Armenia should welcome the restoration of constructive relations between Russia and Turkey. This opinion was expressed today in an interview with a 'Vestnik Kavkaza' correspondent by representatives of both pro-government and opposition bloc in Yerevan, thereby showing a significant change in the overall assessment by the Armenian expert community after last week's direct telephone conversations between presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Recall that there were a lot of apocalyptic moods in Armenian media last week, associated with the fact that now Yerevan will not be able to use the rift between Ankara and Moscow in their anti-Turkish and anti-Azerbaijani foreign policy goals.
According to comments in respect of Vestnik Kavkaza, this week Armenia calmed down and looked at the situation more soberly.
The head of the parliamentary faction of the opposition party 'Armenian National Congress' Levon Zurabyan welcomed the establishment of relations between Russia and Turkey, explaining that the region of the Greater Caucasus is becoming more stable.
"I cannot speak for everybody. This event is assessed in Armenia in a very different ways by experts and politicians, but our position is that it is the aggravation of Russian-Turkish relations has led to the aggravation of the situation in the region. This could not help affecting security challenges. I think the improvement of these relations only contributes to the stabilization of the situation in the region,'' he noted.
Director General of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan agreed with him. First of all, he pointed out that the Armenian power elites have refrained from any assessments. "Those relationships that were among Russia and Turkey have been developed more than one day and developed into a certain format of Russian-Turkish cooperation. Russia and Armenia have quite favorable relations. We are considered to be strategic partners. We have no diplomatic relations with Turkey. In this sense Armenia used to the situation when relations between Russia and Turkey are stable,'' the expert noted.
General Director of the Caucasus Institute expressed confidence that Armenia will not make any anti-Russian actions in connection with Erdogan's apology. "Moscow and Ankara are sovereign countries. I think they will cope without Yerevan, in their mutual relations,'' the analyst concluded.
