Professor Ruben Safrastyan, who works at the Institute of Oriental Studies (Armenian National Academy of Sciences) says Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, didn’t discuss anything substantial during their recent meeting in Antalya.

"Turkey is trying to use the Antalya Forum to raise its profile in the world, acting as a mediator. For example, when Çavuşoğlu serves to mediate the meeting of the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia. His meeting with Mirzoyan was in a similar vein, to show that Turkey seeks establishing peace in the region. Turkey needed it more to show that, you see, we contribute to the settlement of conflicts,” Safrastyan told Hetq.

Nevertheless, Safrastyan believes that it was good that Mirzoyan attended the Antalya forum since he met with other diplomats on the sidelines. The more contacts the better for Armenia in the long-term.

Turkey, according to Safrastyan, will put forth preconditions in normalizations talks with Armenia and that the Pashinyan government must adhere to a very principled approach and not make concessions.

“If we see that we cannot resist, we must leave the negotiation process. That is the whole problem,” Safrastyan said.

This is the fourth Armenian-Turkish negotiation process. The first three failed, and Safrastyan doesn’t believe this one will succeed.

Safrastyan says Turkey is trying to strengthen its position in the South Caucasus and to weaken Russian influence.

He doesn’t rule out the possibility that Baku, at the instigation of Ankara, may launch provocations not only against Armenia and Artsakh, which we are witnessing, but also against Russian peacekeepers.

“I think the main task of Turkey now is to do everything possible to get the Russian peacekeepers to leave the region. It is useful for Azerbaijan. They’ll have the opportunity to put pressure on Artsakh. But it is also beneficial for Turkey because it will achieve its goal. Russia will lose an important lever to maintain its influence in the region," said Ruben Safrastyan.