“Nazarbayev is one of the leaders of Pan-Turkism ideology.”

“This statement was expected,” announced political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan, in the conversation with Aravot.am, on May 29, referring to the condition put forward by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev at the panel session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Astana. He said that this is not the first time that Nazarbayev had spoken about it, and we need to know that Nazarbayev is one of the leaders of Pan-Turkism ideology, and he himself does not hide it. “What he said yesterday, he did not say to our president, he has said it to Aliyev, i.e., Aliyev, who yesterday has turned to President Lukashenko and Putin, one should have responded. Nazarbayev took it on himself for two reasons, the first one is that he is the host of the house (the meeting took place in Astana), secondly, he is in the same organization with Aliyev. He had answered him, i.e., “I did what you said, what will happen next? I have made a cock-a-doodle-doo, whether the dawn will come or not, it’s not my business.” Mr. Melik-Shahnazaryan believes that Nazarbayev demonstrated his contempt to Aliyev by saying that some neighbors are filled with indignation. He believes that if this word has continuation, then it would not be Armenia’s problem. “Let Putin resolves this problem with Nazarbayev, because we, our people, and I also hope our government, are not so helpless, in other words, we have another choice, let those who need us think. We also need them, I do now argue, but we know our importance and we know our importance not only for the East but also the West.” To our question of how Serzh Sargsyan’s silence is conditioned by, Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan replied that it was unexpected for the president.

“This kind of thing, usually, are not said before the cameras, when the cameras are turned off, then such kind of conversations are held, but since Nazarbayev has said these words to Ilham Aliyev, Nazarbayev has preferred saying this in the presence of cameras, which are beyond diplomatic etudes.”

Referring to Nazarbayev’s suggestion to join the Eurasian Union by the UN-recognized borders, Mr. Melik-Shahnazaryan thinks that there is a misunderstanding in the sentence. “The UN does not draw state border, the UN does not approve state borders, and when the UN accepts a state, it does not look whether the border passes by this village or by that mountain, it accepts the state in general. Any country has the right to draw it customs borders, Armenia is entitled to withdraw a large segment from the customs border and create a custom border-free zone, if the neighboring state allows it.”

Ami CHICHAKYAN