About a year ago we wrote about the attempts of Turkey to restore osmanism and we proved to be near the truth. All actions of the Erdogan government are aimed at the re-establishment of the Empire, rather than at creating a regional power. This became much more evident after the visit of President Dmitry Medvedev to Ankara, during which Turkey achieved abrogation of the visa regime, creation of favourable conditions for trade and a reasonable price for gas. The Russian-Turkish rapprochement, which has come to be much spoken about, is a misleading phenomenon: neither Russia nor Turkey will compromise their interests in the name of “ephemeral” friendship. Besides, what friendship can exist between old foes? The Russian Empire used to 3 enemies: the British, Ottoman and Hapsburg Empires. Almost nothing has changed since then, except that Austria-Hungary and the British Empire have sunk into oblivion. But Russia has held “special” relations with the Ottoman Empire - war, armistice, war, once again a peace treaty, and, finally, the World War I, after which the Ottoman Empire with the help of the Bolshevik Russia was reborn into the Turkish Republic.

However, it is all history. Currently Erdogan is again building an empire, and among the first countries that he’ll ‘swallow up’ are Georgia and Azerbaijan. Luckily for Turkey, she meets resistance from neither of them. It won’t be inappropriate to remind here that this process was initiated by Heydar Aliyev, who advanced the slogan “One Nation, Two States”. The rest was a matter of technique; simply the Turkish presidents preceding Abdullah Gul professed Kemalism, at least by word of mouth. The military elite strongly countered any attempt of thorough islamization, but... The “Ergenekon” process actually decapitated the army: the Justice and Development Party learnt the lessons of the 80s quite well.

As for Azerbaijan and Georgia, unlike his father, Ilham Aliyev is more susceptible to outside influence, and like any weak leader prefers to be led by the hand. Moreover, he is looking for a mediator to reconcile with the United States and believes that Turkey is most suitable for it. However, Ankara has her own problems with Washington, and, noticeably, she doesn’t feel like dealing with Aliyev’s intents. As for Georgia, she is always ready to go under the patronage of any state that will take care of her people. The whole history of Georgia is a history of slavery and you can’t go against it. By the way, for centuries the strongest were selected, but when a stronger state appeared, the previous owners were easily sold. Unfortunately, there is not and there cannot be anything new in the history of the region. Let no one be caught at the efforts of Turkey to “help” Iran, an old enemy. The same goes for Russia. Nevertheless, times have changed, and now Ankara has taken a more “civilized” path: she opens research centers, initiates student exchange programs. And all this is done for the single purpose of training the world to the potential new empire in the East. But Islam is a fairly strong argument in this issue - we should bear in mind that the sultan carried the title of “Caliph of the Faithful”. But what response will this get in Iran, where people are opposed to the tandem Baku-Ankara, and Turkey’s involvement in the regulation of Iran’s nuclear program is perceived as a forced measure.

As for Europe, the position of EU is remarkably steady and unambiguous in the issue of Turkey: there is no room for this Asian country in Europe. Hardly is it possible that the personality of the President of France or that of the German Chancellor matters; what matters is the position of the state. However, when speaking about Germany, it must be admitted that during the war the Germans were friends with the Turks. Against Russia, of course. It appears that Erdogan’s joining the EU now is not a necessity. Simply, the process is under its own inertia, and from time to time information is tossed so as to say: we are good, we build democracy, but you do not want us.

But restoration of the Turkic Empire or establishment of a new one is impossible with the existence of independent Armenia. And it was especially for neutralizing Armenia that the American project “Armenian-Turkish relations” was launched. Thanks to God this project was not implemented and hardly will it have continuation. So let’s hope that things stand exactly this way and no otherwise. Nevertheless, we must admit that the Armenian language and Armenia are better studied in Turkey than the Turkish language and state in Armenia. The same also goes for Russia. The point, probably, is not the lack of funds but the lack of desire and want, as the leaderships of both countries believe. Tomorrow the Russians can see quite a different country on the site of the Russian Federation. And what will the Armenians see?... Armenia may simply disappear. In 1914 population of the Ottoman Empire amounted to 33 million people, which was believed to be quite a lot then. Now the population of Turkey is 70 million people and it is increasing annually to absorb 140 million of the population of the Russian Federation in 50 years. The demographic factor, especially in the Islamic world, has always worked faultlessly.