Internet transit between Armenia and Azerbaijan: Interdependence and prospects

Emil Lazarian
JAM News

June 25, 2026
  • JAMnews
  • Baku

The signing of a bilateral commercial agreement on internet traffic transit between Baku and Yerevan marks one of the most significant practical steps towards cooperation in the South Caucasus in recent years.

Under the agreement between AzerTelecom and Telecom Armenia, the two companies will exchange international internet traffic through each other’s infrastructure. The deal also provides for the possible construction of a fibre-optic link connecting mainland Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan via Armenian territory.

Although the agreement comes amid the ongoing peace process, it does not amount to a comprehensive political settlement. Experts say it creates new economic and infrastructure interdependence between the two countries and could strengthen the region’s digital resilience.

What does the agreement involve?

Under the agreement, AzerTelecom will route international internet traffic destined for Armenia through its network.

In turn, Telecom Armenia will provide transit services for internet traffic destined for Azerbaijan. One of the agreement’s most significant practical outcomes is that it could allow Azerbaijan to establish a fibre-optic connection with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic via Armenian territory.

Both operators say the agreement expands the region’s transit routes and improves network resilience.

Azerbaijan’s assessment

Vugar Bayramov, a member of Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis, describes the agreement as Azerbaijan’s contribution to building lasting peace in the South Caucasus.

According to Bayramov, Armenia wants to diversify its imports of various services, including internet connectivity, and is strengthening cooperation with Azerbaijan as part of that effort. He argues that agreements of this kind also reinforce Azerbaijan’s geopolitical position and help shape a new model of regional cooperation.

Aleksandr Tvaradze, director of an IT company, focuses on the agreement’s technical benefits. He says Azerbaijan will gain an additional backup communications route. Although the country already has a direct connection with Iran, unforeseen circumstances could disrupt that link. Armenia’s existing connections with Iran and Georgia would provide Azerbaijan with an alternative route.

Tvaradze also says Azerbaijan could generate revenue from data transit by taking advantage of its geographic location. He compares the model to the role the country has played for years as an energy transit hub through oil and gas pipelines such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.

He adds that the agreement could attract investment in ICT infrastructure and support the development of data centres.

Opportunities and challenges

Analysts see the agreement’s main advantage in diversifying the region’s digital infrastructure. Alternative routes for both countries would make their networks more resilient and better able to withstand potential disruptions. From an economic perspective, the deal could also generate transit revenues and attract investment in the ICT sector.

However, experts warn that the agreement also creates new forms of interdependence. Because part of the physical infrastructure will run through the neighbouring country, technical and security issues could become more complex.

The agreement also comes without a comprehensive political framework. Key issues, including amendments to Armenia’s Constitution and the signing of a peace treaty, remain unresolved. As a result, the long-term stability of the arrangement may remain uncertain.

Some observers believe this type of practical cooperation could help build trust between the two countries. Others warn that, in times of political tension, infrastructure projects could become vulnerable targets.

Outlook

At this stage, the agreement remains primarily technical and commercial in nature. Its success will depend on how effectively it is implemented, as well as on pricing policies and the technical capabilities of both sides. For the region, it also offers an opportunity to strengthen the South Caucasus’s role as a digital bridge between Europe and Asia.

Experts say that if this initiative leads to broader cooperation in areas such as transport, energy and trade, it could encourage deeper regional integration. Otherwise, its impact is likely to remain limited and largely technical.

The internet transit agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia therefore creates both new opportunities and new challenges. Its main significance lies in the fact that it establishes interdependence based on economic and technical interests. Over time, this could provide a foundation for broader cooperation, but only if political will and mutual trust continue to grow.

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Israel turns Armenian suffering into political weapon as feud with Turkiye dee

Boshkezenian Garik
June 26, 2026

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has said he will bring a resolution before the Israeli government to recognise the Armenian Genocide, in a move that comes amid worsening ties with Turkiye and is likely to fuel criticism that Israel is turning Armenian suffering into a political weapon.

Sa’ar said on X that he would bring “a proposed resolution for the official recognition by the Government of Israel of the Armenian Genocide” before the government at its next meeting.

“Recognising the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian people in the final years of the Ottoman Empire is both a moral and historical duty,” he said, adding that Israel must also condemn “any denial, minimisation, or distortion of the historical truth.” The resolution would then be brought before the Knesset for a vote.

The announcement comes as relations between Israel and Turkiye have deteriorated sharply over Gaza, Syria and Israel’s confrontation with Iran. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly condemned Israel’s assault on Gaza, while Ankara has restricted trade with Israel and positioned itself as one of the strongest regional critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Israel has also increasingly cast Turkiye as a strategic threat with Ankara increasingly described in Israeli discourse as the “next Iran”. Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard suggested that Turkiye and Egypt could become Israel’s next military targets, echoing a growing Israeli narrative that casts Ankara as the “new Iran” and a future strategic enemy.

The timing of Sa’ar’s proposal is likely to be met with cynicism. Israel has for decades stopped short of formally recognising the Armenian Genocide, a position critics say has been shaped less by historical fact than by political interest, including the desire to preserve ties with Turkiye and Azerbaijan.

Read: Turkish top diplomat says Netanyahu seeking to designate Turkey as a new enemy

Critics are likely to argue that the sudden push for recognition, at a moment of open confrontation with Ankara, risks turning Armenian suffering into a political tool in Israel’s dispute with Turkiye.

The Armenian Genocide refers to the mass killing, deportation and persecution of Armenians during the final years of a weakened Ottoman Empire, when secular nationalists from the Young Turk movement and the Committee of Union and Progress held state power.

Many historians say the campaign formed part of a nationalist project to remake the empire from a multi-ethnic order into a more homogeneous Turkish state. Around 1.5 million Armenians are estimated to have been killed. Turkiye rejects the genocide label, acknowledging mass deaths during the First World War but denying that the killings formed part of a systematic extermination campaign.

Israel’s record on the issue has long drawn criticism from Armenian communities and human rights advocates. Parliamentary efforts to recognise the genocide have repeatedly failed or stalled, often amid concerns that doing so would damage relations with Turkiye or Azerbaijan.

For Turkiye, the move is likely to be viewed as a hostile political gesture. For Armenians, it may raise a different concern: that long-denied recognition of their suffering is being advanced only because it is seen as being useful in Israel’s feud with Ankara.

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Kurdish Press: Armenian Language Foundation holds courses to promote Their Mot

Alex Nanijanian

Kurdish Press – Syria
June 25 2026

Armenian Language Foundation of al-Hasakah is still holding Armenian language courses for people of all ages as one of its ways to revive their mother tongue and preserve their cultural identity. The Armenian Language Foundation also demands that their language be introduced into Syria’s programs.

NEWS
 25 June, 2026    05:55
AL-HASAKAH

Two years ago, Armenian Language Foundation launched Armenian language courses for learners of any age from learning the alphabet and then moving on to grammar and conversation. This initiative attempts to revive the mother tongue of the Armenian people and introduce it into the Syrian educational program.

As part of this campaign, teachers and learners who attend the training course have given an interview to ANHA news agency concerning the goals of the program and the activities of the foundation.

Teacher Fairouz Abdo said: “When the Armenian Community Foundation was founded, teaching the Armenian language became one of the main priorities of the foundation. And this was six years ago. Today, the Armenian Language Foundation is restoring the native language of the Armenian people.”

She continued: “Today, we have about 20 students and 9 teachers. Some of the participants study and teach simultaneously. We teach young men and women and, in the future, we want to organize language courses for children during the vacation period. We start with the alphabet and proceed to teach grammar, sentence construction, conversations, and all other elements of the language.”

Abdo said that their goal is to achieve constitutional status of the Armenian language and include it in curricula, at least once a week.

In addition, she noted that although foreign languages like English and French are given importance, the languages spoken by the indigenous people of Syria are generally neglected.

“It will be better to start recognizing the languages of the communities of Syria before moving forward to others,” she reiterated.

On the other hand, Sandra Kasabian, who is both a student and a teacher said: “I am a student and a teacher at the same time. I keep learning even as I teach students who are not as experienced as I am. As Armenians, we wish to be recognized like other communities in Syria, especially our language and culture. We want our next generation to learn their mother tongue so they do not lose their language like we did.”

She continued: “Currently, we are working on a curriculum which will be implemented at educational institutes. It will last for two years, covering only the basics of the Armenian language.”

To conclude, Sandra called for the recognition of the Armenian language as any other in Syria, stating that the life of a nation depends on the life of its language.

The experience of Student Evanoush Kasabian was shared as well:

“My father was very busy with work; therefore, he did not have an opportunity to teach me Armenian. But as I loved my language, I enrolled in the foundation in order to study it. Initially, I thought that it would be very difficult, but in the course of time, I understood that it was not so complicated as I thought it was even easier than I thought.”

She continued: “Our goal is that our language should be in the curricula of schools. We do not want the future generations to lack the knowledge of their native language like we lacked it when we were young. Why should I speak another language when I have my own?”

ANHA


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Sa’ar to bring Armenian Genocide recognition to vote, cites Israel’s ‘moral, h

Emil Lazarian
Jerusalem Post

June 26, 2026

As of 2026, 32 UN member states, including the United States, Canada, Russia, and Germany, have formally recognized the genocide.

ByMIRIAM SELA-EITAMJUNE 26, 2026 01:43

A resolution for Israel to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide will be submited at the upcoming government meeting by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

Sa’ar, announcing the resolution in a Thursday post to X/Twitter, said that the proposed resolution will afterward be brought before the Knesset for a vote.

“Recognizing the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian people in the final years of the Ottoman Empire is both a moral and historical duty,” Sa’ar affirmed. “We must also firmly condemn any denial, minimization, or distortion of the historical truth.”

“Despite the extensive and unambiguous historical documentation, the Armenian Genocide remains to this day the subject of an institutionalized campaign of denial and minimization, including a manipulative rewriting of history books, mainly by Turkey,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

As of 2026, 32 UN member states, including the United States, Canada, Russia, and Germany, have formally recognized the genocide.

The Holy See and the European Parliament have also officially recognized the genocide.

Over 200 memorials have been erected across 32 countries to commemorate the event.

What is the Armenian Genocide?

The Armenian Genocide began in April 1915 and led to the deaths of approximately 1.5 million Armenians, as well as the systematic destruction of their heritage and culture.

Spearheaded by the Ottoman Empire’s Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), the Ottoman government arrested, deported, and murdered hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and leaders in Constantinople before turning its attention to the remaining populace.

Between 100,000 to 200,000 Armenian women and children were forcibly converted to Islam, and an estimated 800,000 to 1.2 million Armenians were forced on death marches through the Syrian desert, suffering mass murder, rape, starvation and thirst.

Survivors of the marches were sentenced to concentration camps, however the ethnic cleansing of survivors, carried out by Turkish nationalists, continued on through the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923).

There are roughly 11 million ethnic Armenians alive today.

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Russia bans fish imports from all suppliers in Armenia

Anna Tamamian
Panorama, Armenia

June 26, 2026

Russia has banned imports of fish and fish products from all suppliers in Armenia who had the right to export to the country, Interfax reported on Friday.

Russian plant and animal health watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor reported that it had asked Armenia’s Food Safety Inspection Body to suspend veterinary certification of live fish and fish products (in any processed form) from two Armenian companies, MF Export LLC and Invest Plus LLC, as of June 19, 2026.

Rosselkhoznadzor also issued an order to its regional divisions and Russia’s Federal Customs Service “to ensure control over the prevention of imports of products from these businesses into the Russian Federation.”

Thus, all former Armenian suppliers have been stripped of the right to export fish and fish products to Russia.

Rosselkhoznadzor had earlier issued an order on May 29 to prevent imports of live fish and fish products (in any processed form) from all Armenian companies with the exception of MF Export LLC and Invest Plus LLC as of June 2.

Imports from these two companies were subject to enhanced laboratory control due to the discovery of dangerous substances (leucomalachite green, methylene blue, fluoroquinolones and chlortetracycline), as well as pathogens. Rosselkhoznadzor then amended the May 29 order to also apply the restrictions against these two companies.

Imports of products from two other Armenian companies, Texworld LLC and Blue Ocean LLC, were banned earlier because they refused to take part in inspections by Russian experts that were conducted from May 21 to 27, 2026. “Due to the refusal to conduct inspections, the status of Teksworld LLC and Blue Ocean LLC is changed to ‘temporarily restricted,'” Rosselkhoznadzor materials said.

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Israel Moves to Recognize Armenian Genocide in Major Diplomatic Blow to Turkey

Vorskanian Yeghisabet
Greek City Times
June 26, 2026

Israel Moves to Recognize Armenian Genocide in Major Diplomatic Blow to Turkey

by Bill Giannopoulos

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has announced he will submit a formal proposal to the next government meeting for Israel to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.

In a strong statement, Sa’ar described the recognition as “a moral and historical duty” and emphasized that Israel must also condemn any denial, degradation, or distortion of this historical truth.

Once approved by the government, the resolution will be brought before the Knesset for a vote.

The decision is widely viewed as a significant diplomatic rebuke to Turkey, which has long denied that the systematic mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923 constituted genocide.

This development comes amid heightened tensions between Jerusalem and Ankara and marks a notable shift in Israel’s official position on one of the 20th century’s most tragic events.

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Turkish envoy congratulates Ruben Rubinyan on nomination as Armenian parliamen

Vorskanian Yeghisabet
Panorama, Armenia

June 26, 2026

Turkey’s special envoy for the Armenia normalization process, Serdar Kilic, on Thursday congratulated his Armenian counterpart Ruben Rubinyan following his nomination as speaker of Armenia’s National Assembly.

In a post on X, Kilic said they had cultivated “an efficient working culture and a sincere friendship” throughout their engagement.

“I congratulate Ruben Rubinyan, my counterpart in the Turkey-Armenia normalization process, on his election as Speaker of the Armenian Parliament. Over the past four years, we have established an efficient working culture and a sincere friendship. I wish him continued success in his new position,” he wrote.

The congratulatory message followed Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s announcement that Rubinyan had been nominated as parliament speaker by the ruling Civil Contract party.

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Israeli government to review Armenian Genocide recognition plan, minister says

Albert Nalbandian

June 26, 2026

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said he will submit a proposal at the next cabinet meeting for Israel to officially recognise the Armenian Genocide.

Under the proposal, which requires government approval, Israel would recognise the mass killings of Armenians during the late Ottoman Empire and condemn attempts to deny, minimise or distort the genocide.

“Recognizing the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian people in the final years of the Ottoman Empire is both a moral and historical duty. 
We must also firmly condemn any denial, minimization, or distortion of the historical truth,” he said. 

“The resolution will subsequently be brought before the Knesset for a vote,” he added.

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Armenia seeks to strip Tsarukyan of immunity as post-election arrests and dism

Ekmekjian Janet
OC Media

June 26, 2026
by Arshaluys Barseghyan

Armenian authorities have asked the Central Election Commission (CEC) to lift the parliamentary immunity of tycoon Gagik Tsarukyan, who leads the opposition Prosperous Armenia party. Separately, the authorities have continued their investigations into alleged vote-buying, including by dismissing state servants associated with opposition figures.

Before prosecutors can initiate criminal proceedings against Tsarukyan, who was placed under investigation for alleged large-scale tax evasion just two days after the 7 June parliamentary elections, the CEC must lift his parliamentary immunity.

Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia party narrowly missed the 4% threshold to enter parliament following a controversial decision by the CEC.

The announcement of the investigation came after Tsarukyan had attempted to leave Armenia through Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport shortly after the elections, but was prevented from doing so.

Later, Russian–Armenian tycoon Samavel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia’s leading candidate Narek Karapetyan and Armenia Alliance leader and former President Robert Kocharyan were similarly barred from leaving the country following the elections. However, the legal justifications of such preventions remain unclear.

Armenia revokes license of tycoon and opposition figure Tsarukyan’s casino

Ahead of the elections, Armenian authorities launched dozens of criminal cases alleging vote-buying by the main opposition groups. New cases have continued to emerge after the vote, with investigators publishing wiretapped recordings as evidence to support the allegations.

On Thursday, an unspecified number of people were detained in connection with an alleged vote-buying scheme involving a Prosperous Armenia representative.

Separately, according to RFE/RL, the Anti-Corruption Committee searched the home and two vehicles of Karen Simonyan, a parliamentary candidate from the Armenia Alliance. Authorities said the searches were part of a criminal investigation into alleged vote-buying and vote-selling involving supporters of the alliance.

Meanwhile, prominent Strong Armenia member Artur Avanesyan has been placed under house arrest and banned from leaving the country after prosecutors failed to secure an extension of his pre-trial detention. He was detained at the end of April on suspicion of electoral bribery.

Armenia arrests senior member of Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia party

Opposition figure says sister dismissed from state job

Edgar Ghazaryan, a parliamentary candidate from Strong Armenia, accused the authorities of targeting his family by dismissing his sister, Lilit Ghazaryan, from the state-run Drug Expertise Centre, where she had worked for more than 30 years.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Edgar Ghazaryan described the move as ‘political repression against our family’.

According to him, the day after the election, his sister ‘was instructed’ by the Health Ministry to resign, and after refusing to do so ‘she was unlawfully dismissed’.

‘My sister has worked at the centre for more than 30 years, including the last 22 as deputy director. She is one of Armenia’s leading specialists in pharmaceutical regulation’, Edgar Ghazaryan wrote.

He argued that the ‘only reason’ for Lilit Ghazaryan’s dismissal was that she is his sister, ‘despite the fact that she has remained politically restrained and has made no public or political statements’.

In turn, Lilit Ghazaryan told RFE/RL that after she refused to submit a resignation letter, management instead abolished one of the centre’s two deputy director positions, effectively dismissing her.

‘The elimination of that position had no factual basis and no legal basis’, she said.

She also claimed that the decision originated with Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan rather than Drug Expertise Centre Director Arayik Baghryan, who she said merely carried out the order.

Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Avanesyan rejected the allegations, insisting that the decision had no political motivation and dismissing the accusations as ‘manipulations’. She suggested that if the decision had indeed been politically motivated by Ghazaryan’s brother’s opposition activities, such action would have been taken years earlier.

It is not the first time that figures linked to the opposition or simply holding opposition-minded views working for the government have alleged politically-motivated retribution since the election.

Earlier in June, Gohar Vardanyan, a local civil official in the border village of Kirants, said she was pressured to submit a resignation letter after publishing a Facebook post disputing claims that the strong showing of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party in the village actually reflected real local support.

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Israel stokes tensions with Turkey with push to recognise Armenian genocide

Emil Karabekian
The New Arab

June 26, 2026
Israel, widely accused of committing genocide in Gaza, has for years avoided comment on the killing of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 
Matthew Hoare

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar will this week propose an official recognition of the Armenian genocide in a move that will likely further escalate tensions between Israel and Turkey.

Israel, which itself is widely accused of carrying out a genocide in Gaza, has for years not commented on the killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I.

But amid a growing geopolitical rivalry, Saar will on Sunday advocate in a cabinet meeting that the Israeli government overturn its decades-long position on the event.

“Recognising the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian people in the final years of the Ottoman Empire is both a moral and historical duty,” Saar wrote on social media on Thursday.

“We must also firmly condemn any denial, minimisation, or distortion of the historical truth,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in August said that he recognised the genocide, provoking a furious response from the Turkish government.

Turkey vehemently rejects that the killings and forced deportations of Armenian Christians amounted to genocide.

Any decision by the Israeli government to formally recognise the genocide will need to be passed into law by the Knesset.

The New Arab has approached Turkey’s foreign ministry for comment.

Deteriorating ties

Since its founding, Israel has avoided comment on the Armenian genocide, instead prioritising good relations with Ankara.

But ties between the two countries have fallen to historic lows on the back of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and a battle for influence in post-Assad Syria

Concerns in Ankara have mounted over Israeli’s destabilising behaviour since October 2023, which has seen it bomb seven countries in the region and seize territory in Syria and Lebanon.

Israel increasingly sees Turkey as a major rival in the region with a succession of Israeli officials in recent months hinting at the prospect of a future military attack on the country, with some characterising it as posing a bigger threat than Iran.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stridently criticised Israel’s assault on Gaza, describing it as a genocide and repeatedly comparing Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.

The two countries are also at odds in Syria, where Israel has sought to undermine Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government, which has been supported by Turkey.

Israel wiped out much of the country’s military capabilities in the wake of Assad’s ouster and has backed Druze separatists in the south. It has also threatened to target Turkish forces inside the country

Support for Azerbaijan

However, Israel’s geopolitically informed show of support for the past plight of Armenians has been overshadowed by its backing of Azerbaijan.

Israeli defence companies are among the biggest suppliers of arms to the Azeri government, which fought a war with Armenia in 2020 in order to take control of the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In 2023, Azeri forces took control of the region and drove out 100,000 Armenians after launching a major offensive.

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