Who commands pro-Armenian lobbyist to attack Azerbaijan-Türkiye alliance?
Kazakh pundit explains

INTERVIEWS  14 August 2023 - 12:28

The infamous pro-Armenian State Duma MP Konstantin Zatulin seems to have been let off the leash again. He angrily attacked Türkiye's foreign policy and criticized Russian-Turkish relations. According to him, "Türkiye is not an ally of Russia”, but only undermines its influence in the South Caucasus region and countries where Moscow's influence is historically large.

"And despite any good relations between the leaders of our countries, even if they are in fact such, we should not discount a sober analysis of what is happening in Türkiye and its policies," the odious MP emphasized. According to him, Türkiye is actively building up its presence in the Caucasus and around the Caspian Sea, as well as trying to establish direct contact with the Turkic peoples of the Russian Federation, bypassing the central government.

"It is trying to reorganize former Soviet Central Asia for itself, and now it has become interested in Altai, is making contacts with Mongolia, etc.," Zatulin added. Such a strategy is linked to the ideology of the modern Turkish leadership, which aims to create a "Great Turan" - the unification of territories under the aegis of Ankara, he added.

And then Zatulin began to break the alliance between Azerbaijan and Türkiye. In his opinion, Russia "has grown a certain number of Turkish lobbyists who simply praise everything Türkiye does.”

"Listen to what Igor Korotchenko or Sergei Markov or Maxim Shevchenko say on the central channels. These are the kind of people who are fixated on relations with Azerbaijan and Türkiye. Azerbaijan is Türkiye's closest ally, moreover, Azerbaijan and Türkiye today have a military-political alliance," Zatulin disagreed.

Such expressive statements by the Russian MP are clearly not a spontaneous outburst of emotion, because all statements by the Armenian lobbyist are played out according to the script of one of the Kremlin's towers, like a well-written play. It is difficult to explain why the Russian MP does not criticize such an unfriendly course of the Armenian leadership now when Yerevan has switched to the practice of blatantly anti-Russian statements. The points on which Zatulin was particularly insistent - Türkiye and Azerbaijan undermine Russia's policy by special methods, building separate relations with countries that are in Moscow's zone of interest and almost Russia's regions - are striking. So, who shouted "attack" to Zatulin, and who needs and benefits from this?

Kazakh political scientist Azat Akhmetov is sure that with his statements the Russian MP is clearly working out the goals ordered by the certain Kremlin powers. In a conversation with Caliber.Az, he noted that it seems that Zatulin's mission was to organize an anti-Turkic campaign directed against all those countries in which Moscow now sees a threat to its influence.

"Zatulin went deeper and does not hide it. He is a chauvinist and at the same time accuses the entire Turkic world. But these are the countries that cooperate closely with Russia. By stating that Türkiye is pursuing an active policy with the countries of Central Asia, Zatulin, in fact, accuses the leadership of these countries. Especially since the Russian deputy raised the topic of ‘Great Turan’ - it is hard not to notice that in this way he wants to hurt many Turkic countries as much as possible, to show that Russia is categorically against this kind of alliance. I would even say that with this statement, he seems to indicate that Moscow considers the ideas of Turkism as an enemy to Russia, puts them on the list of potential threats", - said the Kazakh political scientist.

According to Azat Akhmetov, the performance organized by Zatulin can be accurately attributed to those organized in his time by Tigran Keosayan and other lobbyists, attacking Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries with boorish accusations. Therefore, it is impossible to write off Zatulin's statements as some subjective prank by a Russian politician.

"In his revelations, he also emphasized that he had recently met with Putin. At the same time, he noted that he could not disclose the content of the conversation without the president's permission. In essence, Zatulin made it clear that he was receiving some kind of instructions from the Kremlin - about what and how to talk. This does not mean that it was Putin who instructed Zatulin on the entire agenda, but he definitely received some instructions from the Presidential Administration. And then we heard chauvinistic rhetoric against Türkiye, Azerbaijan and the commonwealth of Turkic countries in general. It would be extremely unreasonable not to connect one with the other," the political scientist emphasized.

It is hard to imagine, the Kazakh political scientist said, what the pro-Armenian lobbyist was thinking when he launched such attacks on a whole group of countries and their leaders.

"I would say that Zatulin took on an extremely dirty mission, the hands of which will be difficult to wash later. As if Zatulin himself, having allowed himself to make statements against the entire Turkic world, had not become a completely unruly politician. Such antics of Russian politicians do not honour to the whole policy of Russia and indicate its obvious weakness. After all, one should look at things adequately: if there were no countries of the Turkic world - Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Central Asian states - who would Russia cooperate and trade with now? Thus, making such statements, Zatulin, in fact, spits into the well from which he drinks himself. And there is also a famous saying ‘What goes around comes around,’ which should not be forgotten," Akhmetov concluded.

Caliber.Az