Russia and Turkey are Actually Competing in the South Caucasus: Vardan Voskanyan

Iranian expert Vardan Voskanyan wrote on his Facebook page: “All details of the recent meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey, S. Lavrov and M. Çavuşoğlu, should be analyzed under a microscope at the level of rhetoric in the absence of information about the actual material of the negotiations. Since there is no insignificant word in the diplomatic language of such figures, it is noteworthy that the number one Russian diplomat used the intriguing term 'interaction' (Russian: 'взаимодействие') several times regarding Russia-Turkey relations in connection with the Armenia-Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh issues, instead of, for example, the term 'cooperation' (Russian: 'сотрудничество').

In other words, this rhetoric further confirms that Russia and Turkey, despite the seemingly positive background of their relations, are not cooperating, but are actually competing in the South Caucasus, which is diplomatically characterized by the Russian side as 'interaction'.”