18.03.2025, Moscow.
Russia should now be extremely tolerant towards the Turkish factor, but it has to react if its territorial integrity is challenged, the leader of the Essence of Time movement, philosopher and political scientist Sergey Kurginyan said on February 15 on the program Right to Know on channel TVC.
“I think that Armenia, Azerbaijan etc. are negligible factors. That the real factor is definitely Turkey. That the real factor inside the the Turkish process, neo-Ottomanism that Erdoğan has claimed. And the question is where this neo-Ottomanism will go. Will it go to the south? That would be fine. Or will it go to the north? This is the most important thing,” Sergey Kurginyan said.
However, according to him, there is nothing more pro-Turkish than contemporary Armenia; therefore, we cannot pretend that Armenia is an anti-Turkish factor after everything Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has done. The political scientist also noted that a statement that there is “historical” Armenia and there is “actual” one is unlawful.
“But it is exploited very extensively by the fictitious Armenian authorities. But if it is not about the ‘historical’ Armenia, but about the ‘actual’ one, i.e. about a province of the Ottoman Empire – let us call it what it is – then all we can do is just throw up our hands in astonishment,” the analyst said.
According to Sergey Kurginyan, if the historical state is cancelled, then it is cancelled completely, and then there is no Armenia, but there is a province of the Ottoman Empire. The political scientist expressed hope that some healthy political actors in Armenia would wake up and speak out, but this has not happened so far.
“Armenia has always been very pro-Western relying on its diasporas in France etc., which, in my opinion, has always been some kind of madness, deep insanity. And still it takes place. Therefore, a strange discussion begins as soon as we talk about Armenia,” Sergey Kurginyan said.
As for Russia’s Azerbaijan policy, according to the analyst, Russia in its current condition can handle only one process, e.g. the Ukrainian one.
“The 21st century will be a century of wars. There will be no peace. Wars will escalate. Russia will have to accept this reality and move towards its capability to defend its interest through a very serious militarization. A very serious one. The alternative to this… It is not that I am campaigning for militarization. The alternative is the death of historical Russia. Totally. The ultimate one,” the political scientist said.
According to him, at the moment Russia is at a crossroads: “Trumpism” is a temptation that maybe we can avoid militarization and everything will come back, but this is a dangerous illusion. Even if it prevails in the near future, the next spiral of the conflict will escalate, the political scientist warned.
“In this sense, the problem of Erdoğan’s neo-Ottoman policy is of great concern. The country is moving towards the domination of ‘The Grey Wolves.’ This will be associated in a certain way with claims on our territory. This is where we will have to dot the i’s keeping in mind not Armenia or Azerbaijan but Turkey. But this is the future. And, hopefully, this Turkish factor will go to the south. And then we will not have to deal with the problems of Lezgistan, Dagestan, Great Turan, and the Turkish factor on the Russian territory, the Turkish factor in the CIS,” Sergey Kurginyan said.
He added that, if we have to address this problem, it would rather be as late as possible. The key fact inside this issue, according to the analyst, will be Iran-Turkey contradictions challenging the alliance between Russia and Iran.
“At this stage of the historical process, in the next five-year periods, we must be extremely tolerant towards the Turkish factor. We must tolerate very many things, but not anything. Therefore, if neo-Ottomanism moves to the south and a Turkish caliphate will confront the Arabic one, then we must say, ‘Good luck! Perfect! Go deal with Egypt, the Arab states, and elsewhere. You have had enough of Arabs in the Ottoman version. Deal with them again,’” Sergey Kurginyan said.
If, however, neo-Ottomanism goes to the north to actually, but not declaratively, undermine Russia’s integrity, a reaction must follow, the political scientist stressed. And this is not about Armenia, this is about Russia’s territorial integrity, Sergey Kurginyan added.
“If it goes there, it will be a great concern. And even then we will need to be extremely tolerant, with a direct threat to our territorial integrity as a red line,” the analyst concluded.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
