YEREVAN, JUNE 12, ARMENPRESS. No significant changes will happen in the Armenian-Turkish normalization process after the 2023 Turkish general election, a senior researcher has warned.

Turkey will maintain its precondition on Armenia’s normalization with Azerbaijan, an important factor for Turkey’s foreign policy, Professor Ruben Safrastyan told ARMENPRESS when asked about the prospects of Armenian-Turkish normalization after the elections.

Safrastyan, noting that Azerbaijan recently postponed a planned foreign ministerial with Armenia, and that the new Erdogan government has discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani talks during its first session, said that “something is in the works” in Ankara, the results of which will be seen in a few days.

Moreover, Safrastyan claims that Azerbaijan actually postponed the foreign ministerial talks with Armenia planned in Washington on June 12 at new Turkish FM Hakan Fidan’s request.

“The new foreign minister Hakan Fidan has expressed some discontent over the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations process, and the Azerbaijani side postponed that meeting at his request. Given Fidan’s previous work and his skills in covert diplomacy, it’s clear that Azerbaijan’s maximalist demands put forward to Armenia at his mediation will become stronger. Tomorrow Erdogan will visit Azerbaijan. He had announced that he would make his first visit as newly elected President to Azerbaijan. Erdogan will present Turkey’s approach to Ilham Aliyev during that visit,” Safrastyan, the Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at National Academy of Sciences said.

The turkologist also pointed out the fact that Erdogan changed the entire Cabinet, whereas in the past he used to keep some of the ministers in place.

Professor Safrastyan noted that Erdogan has appointed his long-time loyalists to key positions, such as Hakan Fidan, who was the head of national intelligence and is now the foreign minister, and Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s long-time spokesperson who is now the head of national intelligence.

“The appointment of a young relative of Serdar Kilic, the Turkish envoy for talks with Armenia, as presidential spokesperson is also noteworthy,” Professor Safrastyan said.

According to Safrastyan, Erdogan will continue pursuing the same course with the goal of becoming one of the countries who determine the world’s fate. In this context, Fidan’s appointment as foreign minister is no coincidence given his previous experience of carrying out “personal assignments” and “covert diplomatic tasks” by Erdogan, Safrastyan said.

However, the grave financial-economic situation in Turkey will force Erdogan to carry out more work domestically.

The appointment of Mehmet Şimşek as Minister of Treasury and Finance, and Hafize Erkan – a U.S.-educated official as Governor of the Central Bank, are aimed at resolving the financial-economic crisis, Safrastyan said.

The new Cabinet also faces huge work in eliminating the consequences of the devastating earthquake and ensuring massive investments.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took the oath of office for a new five-year presidential term on June 3.

The foreign ministerial talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan were planned to take place June 12 in Washington D.C. On June 8, the authorities reported that Azerbaijan requested to postpone it.