Vestnik Kavkaza talked with Veniamin Popov, director of the Center for Partnership of Civilizations of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, about the situation around Syria, the Egyptian unrest and the Turkish-Israeli relations.
According to the expert the Turkish authorities are very afraid of a coup similar to the one that occured in Egypt and that's why Turkey takes such a position, so that it would not happen, so as not to let their army get out of control and carry out some military coup of the same kind.
"I think for Turkey, for the Turkish government, this is now a matter of prime importance. That's why they actively support the "Muslim Brotherhood." You remember that Erdogan was one of the first to demand the convening of a special meeting of the UN Security Council to consider the matter and actively tried to internationalize the crisis. The first thing the Egyptians did was to withdraw their ambassador and removed some Turkish TV series from their screens. The Turks withdrew their ambassador. There are serious disputes. Therefore, for Turkey this is the most important policy issue. By the way, Turkey believes that Israel, too, participated in it and criticizes Israel for this," the expert says.
He also commented on the Turkish-Israeli relations.
" Now the Americans have tried to mediate actively to normalize relations. I think there are two things that affect this first and foremost. First, Israel should establish relations with Turkey, because it has gas on the coast and it should export it. The Arabs will not let Israel do this, so this is possible only via Turkey. On the other hand, Turkey could take that step, but Turkey must, of course, maintain its leadership in the Islamic world. To some extent, warm relations with Israel will certainly impede this important goal. This must be borne in mind," he said.
