Belarus’ policy to Russia, Armenian inconsistent – expert

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has for the last two days been highlighting the development of relations with Turkey, meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Erdogan, participating in the 13^th session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), while Belarus is an ally of Russia, which has strained relations with official Ankara.

Belarus, which is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), has taken inconsistent steps not only to its ally Russia, but also to its EEU partner Armenia by voicing its support for Azerbaijan during the four-day hostilities, and the Belarusian ambassador to Armenia was summoned to Armenia’s foreign office.

In an interview with Tert.am, expert in Turkic studies Ruben Safrastyan spoke of the reasons for active Belarusian-Turkish cooperation. According to him, Turkey is deliberately seeking to “win Belarus over” to produce an impression that the EEU is not a unity.

“I cannot say for sure what Belarus’ motives for such steps are because I am not an expert. However, Belarus’ attitude to the four-day war was most unclear – support for Azerbaijan – which I would describe a gross violation of principles of alliance in settling conflicts, which must be condemned.

“I think Turkey is developing relations with Belarus on purpose to show Russia that its ally is not an ally at all. But the most important question is Belarus’ motives for doing it. Lukashenko is implementing an inconsistent policy. There may be more serious reasons,” Mr Safrastyan said.