Interview with Director of the Institute of Indigenous Peoples of the Caucasian-Caspian region, Professor Garnik Asatryan

The most fanatical Islamic country in the world, the absolute monarchy of Saudi Arabia, where state-official religion is Wahhabism – a radical branch of Sunni Islam, as of 15 December, 2015 created an Islamic political and military coalition. The aim proclaimed is the joint fight against DAISH or ISIL or “Islamic state”. The new coalition includes 34 Islamic states. The operational headquarters will be located in the capital, Riyadh, which in addition to anti-terrorism activities will also be engaged in coordination with international agencies and other countries.

After November 24, when the Russian Su-24 was shot down, the Russian-Turkish relations are deteriorating day by day, and in fact they have entered into the stage of an undeclared war. Ankara, in response to the Russian government’s introduced economic sanctions, unilaterally decided to break the special status of the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, preventing the entrance and exit of Russian ships in the Black Sea. However, a larger confrontation can happen in Syria.

In 2013 in the South Caucasus was a situational change, which was due to renewed geopolitical conflict between the West and Russia. Ukraine became the first victim of this rivalry. Then the Eastern Partnership program collapsed, the US-Russian cooperation in our region stopped, and finally – Syria.
From all of this – the first lesson for the Armenian side is the fact that the South Caucasus as a geopolitical unit, continues to have the impact of the processes taking place in the neighboring regions.

As is already known, as a result of a preliminary agreement between the US and Iran, the Iranian side refused to produce nuclear weapons in return for the lifting of sanctions. This is very important for Armenia because Iran is our immediate neighbor, and moreover, we are connected with traditionally friendly and mutually beneficial relations.

Caliphate began a war against Turkey
On July 23 the murder of Turkish military as a result of shelling between Turkey border police and the militants of the Islamic State announced a new situation in the Middle East. The next day, the Turkish Air Force bombed the base of the Islamists in the north of Syria, moreover, was allowed to use the air base Incirlik against the IS.

The political map of independent Talyshstan is published. Azerbaijani names of the places are changed into their initial – Talysh names.