Turkologist: The withdrawal of the Turkish contingent from  Nakhichevan is the most important issue for Armenia

ArmInfo.Turkey's foreign policy style observed today, among other things, consistently violates various international criteria, norms and rules.

A similar opinion  was expressed to ArmInfo by the Dean of the Faculty of Oriental  Studies of YSU, Turkologist Ruben Melkonyan.  "Neglecting all this,  Ankara prefers to talk with the world, primarily with neighboring  states from a position of strength, weapons, its fundamentally  destructive policy. All the latest shades in Turkish rhetoric and  public sentiments are a clear indicator of Ankara's future behavior  in the event of an increase in its role in the work of the OSCE Minsk  Group on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. In this case,  Turkey will speak not within the framework and format adopted by the  co-chairs, but from a position of strength, "he stressed.

Since 1992, the OSCE Minsk Group, represented by the co-chairs from  Russia, the United States and France, has been involved in the  settlement of the Karabakh conflict. At present, the settlement  process is nominally proceeding on the basis of the "Madrid  Principles", nominated by the OSCE Minsk Group co- chairs in 2007 in  Madrid and updated in 2009, which, among other things, provide for  the deployment of a peacekeeping contingent in the conflict zone. The  OSCE MG also includes Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland and  Turkey, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Commenting on the threats from Ankara against Armenia that have  become more frequent in the recent period, the Turkologist did not  rule out that at a certain stage Turkey may try to implement them to  some extent. In his opinion, this may manifest itself in the form of  a provocation at the border, refusal to withdraw troops from  Nakhijevan, etc. The latter, according to the expert, is a  psychological problem - Nakhichevan is very close to Yerevan.

Melkonyan does not rule out the indirect involvement of the Turkish  military in hostilities against Armenia, for example, in the form of  Azerbaijani servicemen. In this light, he sees the need to activate  all security formats with the participation of Armenia. According to  him, despite the obviousness of the Armenian- Russian allied  relations as a factor restraining Turkey's appetites and ambitions,  Armenia should always be ready to resist the destructive steps of  Turkey at the local level.

In this light, Armenia, according to the Turkologist, needs the most  tough way to suppress all attempts of Ankara to increase its role in  the OSCE Minsk Group on the settlement of the Artsakh problem. In his  opinion, Yerevan needs to further toughen the adopted line on the  unacceptability of Turkey's participation in the settlement of the  Karabakh conflict. "It is also necessary to carefully monitor not  only the current, but also all other military exercises with the  participation of Turkey and Azerbaijan. In particular, it is  necessary to track whether the Turkish contingent will be withdrawn  from Nakhchivan at the end of the exercises. Or, under many plausible  pretexts, it will remain in Nakhchivan. This is the most important  question. , which should be in the center of attention of the  Armenian leadership, taking into account Ankara's readiness to  violate any international norms. Armenia should be ready for any  Turkish surprises, "the Turkologist summed up.

From July 29 to August 10, Azerbaijan and Turkey are holding regular,  planned, joint military exercises.  According to the plan of the  exercises, the exercises of the ground forces will be held from  August 1 to 5 in Baku and Nakhichevan, bordering Armenia. Military  aviation exercises will be held from July 29 to August 10 - in Baku,  Nakhijevan, Yevlakh, Ganja and Kurdamir. The exercises will involve  personnel, armored vehicles, artillery and mortars, military aviation  and air defense systems of the two countries.