Visit of The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Ukraine Analytica to ORSAM

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On 7 October 2015, a five-member delegation from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ukraine Analytica and Ukraine Embassy paid a visit to ORSAM. Dr. Alexandr Bogomolov, Director of the A.Yu. Krymsky Institute of the Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine headed to the delegation, which also involved Dr. Hanna Shelest, Editor-in-chief UA: Ukraine Analytica, Dr. Nariman Seytyagyev, and Researcher of the A.Yu. Krymsky Institute of the Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and representatives from Ukraine Embassy. Host delegation consisted of Assoc. Prof. Şaban Kardaş, president of ORSAM, Dr. Pınar Arıkan Sinkaya, ORSAM Advisor, ORSAM Researchers Dr. Zeynep Sütalan, Oytun Orhan and Bilgay Duman, and Nebahat Tanrıverdi Yaşar, ORSAM Assistant Researcher.
 
The meeting began with ORSAM President Assoc. Prof. Şaban Kardaş’s opening speech about ORSAM and its activities. Following the presentation made by Assoc. Prof. Şaban Kardaş, Dr. Alexandr Bogomolov made a presentation about the A.Yu. Krymsky Institute of the Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and its activities. Dr. Alexandr Bogomolov mentioned that the Institute was established after the independence of Ukraine in 1991 and hence it is a newly established institute, but he also traced the roots of the institute back to the famous Ukranian Orientalist and Turcologist Ahatanhel Krymsky. Dr. Alexandr Bogomolov stated that the Institute has conducted activities in many areas from history to linguistics, from politics to social policies. In addition, Dr. Alexandr Bogomolov said that the contemporary issues began to occupy more place in their activities especially after the latest developments emerged in Ukraine, and thus they organized several activities on the issues such as economic relations between Turkey and Ukraine, Crimean Issue, peaceful coexistence in Ukraine and endangered languages.
 
Since two countries have been sharing commonalities and necessities, Dr. Alexandr Bogomolov stated that they need regional partners with local knowledge. Similarly, Dr. Hanna Shelest, Editor-in-chief of UA: Ukraine Analytica, mentioned that it is important and beneficial to increase the relations and cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey. Dr. Hanna Shelest highlighted that more Ukrainian institutions has begun to engage in strategic network while there are lots of Turkish centres who has already developed such ties. Dr. Hanna Shelest also stated that both of the countries have interests on Black Sea and the Middle East, and hence developing and increasing cooperation between two countries will be to the benefit of both sides.
 
In the meeting, which also covered the recent developments in Syria, Dr. Alexandr Bogomolov argued that Syrian and Ukrainian Crises are two theatres of the same war. In this regard, according to him, violation of Turkish airspace by Russia should be considered not only within the context of Russian foreign policy towards Turkey, but also as a policy targeting NATO. According to Dr. Alexandr Bogomolov, Russia’s priority in the operations in Syria as well as violation of Turkish airspace is to highlight the weaknesses of the international coalitional forces led by USA. Due to these reasons, Dr. Alexandr Bogomolov stated that violation of Turkish airspace by Russia was an intentional act to convey many messages to several actors. Also, Dr. Hanna Shelest stated that Russia's activities and operations in military bases in Crimea and Tarsus are provocative acts; however the crucial issue is the possible consequences of increasing joint initiative between Iran and Russia. Following the evaluation of current developments, the meeting was ended with a question and answer session.