Bagdasarov Semen Arkadievich, Head of the Center for Research for Central Asian Countries said that the friendship with Erdogan has caused Russia a great harm. "This mistake should be reversed now, if we do not cooperate with the Kurds, Erdogan will win the war both in Syria and in Nagorno Karabakh."

Arkadievich is one of the leading Middle East and Central Asia experts in Russia. Known especially for his research on the resolution of conflicts and crises in the region, he is also a retired colonel.

Arkadievich talked to ANF about the aggressive policies of Erdogan towards both Syria and Nagorno Karabakh.

Stating that the Middle East is still an unstable region because the war in Syria has still not ended, Arkadievich made a proposal for a solution “It seems – he said - that the war in Syria won’t end anytime soon. The way to end the war is through ending Turkish colonialism in the region. Therefore, the government of Damascus should join forces with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and fight with them against Turkish colonialism."

Noting that the forces loyal to the Erdogan regime do not intend to leave neither Ezaz, Afrin, Jarablus nor any other occupied territories, Arkadievich said: “Erdogan is a cunning politician and understands only power. Therefore, I think that a common struggle of all forces could end Turkish colonialism in Syria. Currently, Syria has a strong army and the SDF is also very strong. Both forces should unite against this common enemy.”

Arkadievich said that the Ankara regime is spreading seeds of discord not only in Syria, but also in a wider territory, from Iraq to Libya and even to Nagorno Karabakh.

Drawing attention to the support of many Muslim countries to Armenia in the Karabakh crisis, Arkadievich added: “The Turkish state wants to expand its borders through this aggressive policy towards its neighbouring countries. For this reason, it is experiencing a crisis with Greece and Cyprus on the one hand, while on the other, it occupies Syria and Iraq and enters the war in Karabakh siding with Azerbaijan. Turkey is doing all this to show its strength. Erdogan's only aim is to rebuild the Ottoman Empire and to dominate the region as it was during the Ottoman period."

Stating that the Turkish state played a decisive role in the war that broke out in Nagorno Karabakh, the Russian expert reminded of Azeri president Aliyev which once said at the conference of the Turkic republics: ‘We must unite the Turkic states by destroying Armenia’. "The Ankara regime – said Arkadievich – has joined this war with all its military power under the slogan ‘one state, one nation’. The Turkish army is also bombing Armenian points in Karabakh with its air forces."

Saying that the Turkish state has established a mercenary army of between 80,000 and 100,000 men in Syria, Arkadievich added that some 1,500-2,000 of these mercenaries have joined the war in Nagorno Karabakh.

The Russian expert stated that the Turkish government only by providing military and logistical support to the war in Karabakh "is an active party to this war."

Arkadieviç said "it was a very wrong step" for Russia to establish an alliance with the Erdogan regime under Putin's administration. Stating that Russia's cooperation with Erdogan has a heavy cost, Arkadievich added: "The friendship we established with him in Syria turned into hostility towards us, the mercenaries got stronger and the front opened against us expanded even more."

Arkadievich went further and said: "Turkey is in fact Russia's geopolitical enemy, and this won’t change."