The Turkish-Israeli conflict is explained by Turkey’s aspiration to expand its influence over the countries once a part of the Ottoman Empire, according to an Armenian expert.

“Turkey is not an ordinary country. Being militaristic and aggressive, it now tries to make use of the weakened Arab world,” Levon Shirinyan told a news conference in Yerevan.

As to Azerbaijan, he said, it’s a country that originated as a result of a bargain between Turkey and Soviet Russia. “Azerbaijan is a Turkic state which forms a kind of confederation together with Turkey and Northern Cyprus. It can’t but support Turkey or fall under Russia’s influence again, thus displeasing the United States,” the expert said.