​Expert: Turkey can use its rapprochement with Russia as a lever of pressure on the West - OPINION

Baku. 10 August. REPORT.AZ/ A meeting of the presidents of Turkey and Russia Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg is only the first step in recovery process of Turkish-Russian relations. This was stated by a leading expert of the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Foundation of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Zohra Azizova in her interview to Report.

"If the situation with normalization of trade and economic relations between the two countries is understandable as it was discussed in a wide format, coming to issues of political dialogue on regional geopolitical agenda – the details remain ‘behind the scenes’. It is likely that either the final decisions on the Syrian settlement and regional cooperation on counterterrorism have not been made or they will not be announced to the general public yet", - said Azizova.

According to the expert, probably, tensions between Erdoğan and his partners in the NATO / EU will keep growing, despite assurances of Ankara that rapprochement of Turkey and Russia would not negatively affect their interests.

The political scientist noted that Erdogan's growing anti-Western rhetoric after the attempted military coup on July 15^th and his visit to St. Petersburg may be a prerequisite that in the near future Turkey will further deviate from its pro-Western vector of foreign policy, shifting the focus on regional cooperation with Russia and, perhaps Iran.

"It will largely depend on the future format of the relations and agreements between Turkey and Russia and its Western allies, in this context it is possible that Turkey may use a rapprochement with Russia as a lever of pressure on the West, on the one hand. On the other hand, this convergence may be due to potential political risks associated with possible coup attempt, inspired by outside. And this applies not only to Turkey," the leading expert summarized.