Experts doubt Russia's denunciation of treaty with Turkey

The initiative to denounce the Moscow Treaty is another Russia's attempt to exert pressure on Turkey in "Syrian issue", Armenian experts believe. According to their version, the cancellation of the Treaty "will lead to global problems for the countries of Southern Caucasus."

The appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a demand to terminate the Treaty on Friendship and Brotherhood, signed with Turkey, was prepared by Valery Rashkin and Sergey Obukhov, the State Duma MPs from the faction of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF).

On February 10, Maria Zakharova, the official spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), said that the MFA would study the proposal of the MPs about the denunciation of the Treaty with Turkey.

This proposal "is a lever of pressure on Turkey," said Ara Papyan, the head of the Centre "Modus Vivendi", an expert in international relations.

"The legal basis for the transfer of Batumi to Georgia, and of Nakhichevan – to Azerbaijan will cease to exist, as well as the transfer to Turkey of the Armenian territories – the Vilayets of Van, Erzurum, Bitlis and Trabzon These territories were recognized to be Armenian not only by the international community, in particular, by the League of Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations, but also by the official Sultan Turkey," said Papyan.

The tension in Russian-Turkish relations will continue growing, said Levon Ovsepyan, a turkologist and a researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. However, he ruled out any outbreak of hostilities between the two countries.

The expert also doubts that Russia will denounce the Moscow Treaty.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.