AzerTelecom and Telecom Armenia signed bilateral agreements on June 22 to route Armenia’s international internet traffic through Azerbaijan, in a concrete step in telecommunications cooperation between the two countries as they move towards normalising relations.
Under the agreements, AzerTelecom will expand the geographic reach of its international internet traffic transmission services and provide transit of internet traffic towards Armenia using its own infrastructure. Telecom Armenia, in turn, will also transit internet traffic towards Azerbaijan through its own network.
The deal adds a new connectivity route for Armenia, which previously relied on links through Georgia, Iran and Russia. Diversifying those routes reduces exposure to single points of failure and improves the resilience of Armenia’s international telecommunications networks.
AzerTelecom, founded in 2008, is the backbone internet operator connecting Azerbaijan to the international internet. Telecom Armenia — operating under the brand Team Telecom Armenia — is the country’s oldest telecoms operator, with roots stretching back more than 100 years, and provides mobile and fixed broadband, digital television and telephony services.
The agreement comes as Azerbaijan and Armenia continue to implement post-conflict normalisation. The two countries fought a six-week war in 2020 and a one-day military operation in 2023, through which Baku restored full control over its territory. Officials from both countries initialled a peace treaty text in Washington on August 8, 2025, under which each side recognises the other’s territorial integrity and drops mutual claims. Freight transit between the two countries has already resumed.
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Iraq taps Krikor Der-Hagopian as first Armenian Christian ambassador to US
Baghdad’s pick of a US-educated Armenian Christian adviser as envoy to Washington underscores a bid to reset US-Iraq ties and broaden the country’s diplomatic profile.
Krikor Der-Hagopian at the 9th Sulaimani Forum, in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, on April 16, 2025. — AUI Sulaimani
Iraq has nominated Krikor Der-Hagopian, an Armenian Christian adviser to Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, as ambassador to Washington. Regional diplomats confirmed the nomination to Al-Monitor, describing it as part of a broader effort by Baghdad to recalibrate relations with the United States.
Der-Hagopian, a US-educated Iraqi official who has served in numerous roles, including as an adviser to former President Barham Saleh and to the last prime minister, Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, is awaiting formal consent from the Trump administration before taking up his post. If confirmed, the Armenian Christian would become Iraq’s first non-Shiite ambassador to Washington in decades.
Hopes are that he will get the green light in time for Zaidi’s meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington that is due to take place in the third week of July.
The 49-year-old father of three, who earned a master’s in international relations at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies, is widely seen as a shoo-in. Well-placed sources familiar with Der-Hagopian say he has an established track record of maintaining smooth relations with successive US administrations.
“I view his appointment as an extremely positive signal that the prime minister has decided to send probably the most qualified member of his own team, the person with the most insights on how Washington works,” Victoria Taylor, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq and Iran, who left the post in May 2025 to join the Atlantic Council, told Al-Monitor.
“He has been excellent in bilateral relations and worked with international companies,” one of the sources said. This aligns with efforts to refocus the United States’ fraught relationship with Iraq away from a purely security focus toward what is being billed as a “business first” agenda.
Der-Hagopian will be replacing Iraq’s former deputy foreign minister, Nizar al-Khairallah, who is the current Iraqi ambassador in Washington. In a related development, a seasoned State Department Middle East hand, Peter Shea, is expected to replace another State Department professional, Joshua Harris, as interim head of mission in Baghdad until — and if — a permanent ambassador is named.
Promoting Iraqi-US commercial ties has been a big priority of President Trump’s newly anointed Iraq envoy, Tom Barrack, who was in Baghdad last week on his first official visit since assuming the title. In his meeting with the Iraqi premier, energy projects were a top agenda item, sources familiar with the talks said. These projects include multi-billion dollar negotiations with US major Chevron to develop oil in fields in southern Iraq, the licensing of Elon Musk’s Starlink for high-speed internet connectivity, the floating liquefied natural gas terminals with another US company, Texas-based Excelerate Energy, and the rehabilitation of an oil pipeline connecting oil fields in Kirkuk with export terminals in Syria’s Baniyas, a readout of the meeting posted by the US embassy in Iraq stated.
The readout said Zaidi and Barrack had “discussed the shared aspirational vision for the Iraqi government…to implement Iraqi plans for the complete disarmament and disbandment of all armed groups and formations operating outside the authority and control of the Iraqi state.” This was an overt reference to Iran-backed Shiite militias that wield outsize power in Iraq. Successive US administrations have pressed Baghdad to disarm and dismantle the militias and to cut off their revenue streams, so far to little effect.
Iran is widely seen as having emerged emboldened from its war with Israel and the United States. If anything, experts say it will likely double down on its alliance with Shiite militias in Iraq that targeted US bases and US-operated oil fields in Iraq throughout the four-month-old conflict.
The Iraqi government has set a September deadline for the militias originally formed to fight ISIS to disarm.
Barrack’s support to Der-Hagopian is expected to prove key during his tenure in Washington “where Iraq’s importance has really declined on the agenda,” Taylor noted. “Therefore the positive for Iraq is to have someone paying attention to the file who is so close to the president,” Taylor observed. Barrack is a longtime friend of Trump.
Barrack, who is triple hatted as the Syria envoy and ambassador to Turkey, has good relations with Der-Hagopian, a regional official speaking on background told Al-Monitor.
Still, Der-Hagopian will have his work cut out for him. The narrative that Iran fully controls Iraq persists in Congress. Massive corruption that continues to blight Iraq has not helped its image among US lawmakers either. “Der-Hagopian is an excellent salesman but he is stuck with a damaged product,” an Iraq-based source who knows the new envoy personally told Al-Monitor.
Iraqi-US ties have been largely anchored in security since the United States overthrew Saddam Hussein and occupied Iraq in 2003. However, those ties have unraveled amid persistent calls by successive Iraqi leaders with much alleged prodding from Tehran for US troops to leave the country. The bulk had pulled out by the start of 2026 with several hundred redeploying to bases in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq where they have faced drone attacks by Shiite militias even before the start of the Iran war in February 2026.
The Pentagon’s funding for Iraqi forces has also dipped as it pivots away from its mentorship role as the leader of the global coalition to fight the Islamic State known as Operation Inherent Resolve towards a bilateral format with the Iraqi military. The nature and degree of the US military’s involvement in the bilateral security relationship after the coalition folds up its flag remains to be discussed by the two sides, as does the future presence of US troops in the country, a well-placed source briefed on the status of the diplomatic track told Al-Monitor.
“The nature of the US Iraq security partnership is going to be changing with the end of Operation Inherent Resolve and I think the new Iraqi ambassador can play a really pivotal role in helping to define what the future of that partnership will look like,” Taylor concluded.
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U.S. Congress to discuss Azerbaijanis’ “right of return” to Armenia – Azerbai
An international conference titled “The Right of Return and Self-Determination: Double Standards and Selective Approaches” will be held on June 24 at the U.S. Congress building at the initiative of the Baku Initiative Group, Azerbaijani media report.
According to the organizers, this will be the first event hosted at the U.S. Congress dedicated to what they describe as the “ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis by Armenia.”
It is noted that participants are expected to discuss what organizers call the “right of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis to return to their former places of residence,” as well as issues related to the preservation of Azerbaijani cultural and religious heritage in Armenia.
The agenda also includes discussions on international monitoring mechanisms and possible ways of drawing the attention of the United Nations to these issues.
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Von der Leyen to visit Pashinyan in Yerevan to build on Armenia’s pro-EU vote
As the EU rolls out a support package for Armenia, European Commission President von der Leyen is set to meet re-elected Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan after he secured a decisive pro-West mandate from the Armenian people, sources confirmed to Euronews.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Armenia next week for talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to further develop strategic EU-Armenia relations following Pashinyan’s recent re-election, sources in Yerevan with knowledge of the matter confirmed to Euronews on Tuesday.
The European Commission endorsed Pashinyan just days before the crucial elections on 7 June and announced a support package to counter the Russian onslaught of sanctions following Yerevan’s cautious pro-Western, pro-EU turn.
Pashinyan carefully balanced Armenia’s approach to Russia in the last days of the election campaign, stating that Armenia’s EU membership bid at the moment is “theoretical.”
In a statement at the time, following the high-level EU-Armenia summit in Yerevan in May, von der Leyen said the European Commission was “standing firmly” in its backing of Pashinyan and that “by extending export restrictions on Armenian products, Moscow is weaponising economic relations for political pressure.”
The EC announced at the time a support package of financial assistance and practical measures to support Armenian agri-food trade after Moscow unleashed an economic onslaught, restricting imports of various Armenian fruits, vegetables, flowers, and fish products, as well as wine, brandy and mineral water, while also threatening to cut critical Russian oil and gas supplies to Armenia.
Von der Leyen’s visit will take place following a new announcement by the European Commission last Friday that it “disbursed €34 million to Armenia to help mitigate the impact of Russia’s trade restrictions on the country’s private sector,” as “the EU is delivering swiftly on its commitments to support Armenia and its people.”
“Additional support will be provided to sectors affected by the trade restrictions, including agri-food products, flower production and other export-oriented industries, through trade initiatives, business matchmaking events and targeted market access initiatives,” the European Commission said in a statement.
The EU-Armenia Task Force on Economic Resilience continues to meet regularly to steer and monitor the implementation of these measures, the Commission added.
Armenian apricots arrive
In last Friday’s package announcement, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said she would travel to Armenia soon “to strengthen EU-Armenia cooperation,” as “the EU stands firmly with Armenia, a sovereign, democratic and independent country.”
Kos said the EU support package “will help address immediate economic challenges while opening new opportunities for Armenian businesses to trade with regional and European markets.”
“This is European solidarity in action,” she emphasised.
On Monday, Commissioner Kos announced that Armenia’s Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Minister Davit Khudatyan brought her “the first symbolic batch of Armenian apricots” ahead of the launch of a so-called Connectivity Agenda Platform, “where we will take forward our work to better connect Armenia with its neighbours and Europe”.
“This will help Armenian producers diversify their exports and bring more of their high-quality products to new markets,” Kos said in a statement on X.
Days before the elections, Pashinyan attempted to defuse tensions with Russia and said he agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin to travel to Moscow to “have a meeting and resolve all current issues,” after the elections.
“We will not engage in a war of words with Russia, we will calmly defend Armenia’s positions,” Pashinyan said in the run-up to the elections, adding that Yerevan “will not act against Russia’s interests, but neither will we act against our own interests.”
The Armenian premier also made it clear at the time that his country’s EU membership bid is at the moment “theoretical” and that “we will continue to work calmly and steadily, without disputes, within the Eurasian Economic Union, and I am convinced that we still have potential in this direction, which we will use in the near future.”
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Armenian Emergency Medicine Physicians Visit Yale By Cat Urbain, MALS
In February, the Yale Department of Emergency Medicine welcomed two visiting physicians from Armenia, Lilit Serobyan, MD, and Vache Buniatyan, MD. The doctors, who are among the first graduates of the Yale Armenian Unified Emergency Medicine Residency Program (YUAEMRP), share their reflections on the program and their visit to New Haven, Conn.
The program was launched in 2023 by Sharon Chekijian, MD, MPH, associate professor of emergency medicine at Yale School of Medicine. In 2025, Chekijian was named the inaugural chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and Disaster Medicine at the National Institute of Armenia.
Tell us about yourselves and why you joined the Armenian Unified Emergency Medicine Residency Program.
We are among the first graduates of this 18-month program. Before entering emergency medicine, we each trained as cardiologists. At that time, there was no national emergency medicine specialty in Armenia.
We joined the program because we wanted formal, structured training in emergency care. Previously, it was difficult to pursue this type of training abroad, and emergency care in Armenia was largely provided by general practitioners or others trained in various subspecialties who were attracted to and already working in emergency medicine settings.
The program has allowed us to expand our clinical roles significantly. Before, we often had to send patients to different departments for evaluation and treatment. Now, we are trained to confidently manage many types of emergencies ourselves within our department, including trauma assessment and point-of-care ultrasound imaging.
How has the establishment of an emergency medicine residency changed clinical practice in Armenia?
The impact has been transformative. Before the residency program, emergency medicine wasn’t recognized as a distinct specialty in Armenia, and we worked within a much different model of care. Physicians functioned more like generalists and were limited in performing procedures such as trauma interventions.
Now, emergency departments are evolving into comprehensive care centers. We are trained to manage complex cases directly, improving both efficiency and patient outcomes.
The program has also led to structural changes, including the development of triage systems and the formation of an emergency medicine association in Armenia. Our class had twelve physicians, and the new residency class now includes approximately 40 physicians. Graduates are working across hospitals nationwide. The program is centered around weekly online didactic teaching, in-person workshops with hands-on teaching, and in-person precepting by visiting faculty.
What challenges still remain?
There are still limitations in resources and staffing. In many Armenian hospitals, there may be only one resident per shift, compared with the larger, team-based structure we saw at Yale. Because the workforce is still growing, we still have 24-hour shifts.
We also recognize the need to expand training beyond physicians. Educating nurses, particularly in triage, is a key next step. In addition, public awareness is important; many patients are not yet familiar with the concept of a modern emergency department, so outreach and education will be essential.
As emergency medicine continues to grow in Armenia, securing sustainable funding and clearly defining our role within the healthcare system will be important next steps. Maintaining strong collaborative relationships with other specialties will help ensure its continued development and success.
What impacted you most from your visit to Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale School of Medicine
Visiting Yale and New Haven was eye-opening and inspiring! It allowed us to see a highly developed emergency care system firsthand. We were especially impressed by the simulation center, the team-based structure, the integration of ultrasound into routine emergency care, and the Chest Pain Center.
Although the emergency department was often very busy during our visits, we were struck by how seamlessly everything flowed. The triage nurses, residents, and specialists each fulfill a defined role, working together as a cohesive unit to minimize delays and reduce uncertainty during critical moments.
The simulation center was remarkable. Simulation-based education could play a transformative role in Armenia by strengthening not only technical skills but also communication, leadership, and clinical decision-making.
As cardiologists, we were especially excited about the Chest Pain Center and its integration in the ED. Patients in the Chest Pain Center are managed through structured, evidence-based diagnostic pathways that include continuous cardiac monitoring, serial ECGs, and cardiac biomarker testing. The presence of such technology, combined with standardized protocols, would represent an important step forward in the development of emergency and cardiac care systems in Armenia. We hope we can establish a similar center soon!
Although we incorporate ultrasound training in our residency program, seeing it embedded so seamlessly into routine emergency care at Yale reinforced its value as an essential clinical tool. Its integration into routine emergency care clearly demonstrated its value in accelerating clinical decision-making and guiding immediate management.
What did this experience mean to you?
This visit was incredibly meaningful. We are deeply grateful to Sharon Chekijian, MD, MPH, for her vision and dedication in creating this program and for providing us with the opportunity to train and visit Yale. Beyond the clinical experience, we were inspired by both the academic environment at Yale and the city of New Haven itself. Walking into the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library and the Cushing Center, dedicated to neurosurgical pioneer Dr. Harvey Cushing, whose work we had studied for years, was a profound moment.
Most importantly, this experience strengthened our commitment to advancing emergency medicine in Armenia. We are fortunate to have had several Yale faculty members and fellows—including Drs. Rachel Liu, Cristiana Baloescu, Tushara Surapaneni, and Sarah Aly— have traveled to Armenia to teach and mentor. We look forward to continuing these collaborations and learning from one another. The partnerships we have built through this program have already helped shape emergency medicine in Armenia, and we are excited to see what comes next.
The Armenian Unified Emergency Medicine Residency Program is a collaboration between the National Institute of Health of Armenia and the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale School of Medicine. It is the first formal emergency medicine (EM) residency program in Armenia.
This accelerated 18-month program was designed to train an inaugural cohort of emergency physicians who had already completed residency training in another specialty and were actively practicing in emergency departments or ambulance services. The curriculum follows the European Society of Emergency Medicine (EUSEM) standards and incorporates instruction from international faculty.
The program was founded and is led by Sharon Chekijian, MD, MPH. Dr. Chekijian works closely with Dr. Oriane Longerstaey, assistant professor at the Brown Department of Emergency Medicine, who is the associate program director for YUAEMRP. Collaborators include Yale faculty, Diasporan and Armenian national lecturers, and other colleagues from around the country who make weekly didactic lectures possible. Dr. Tigran Aghabekyan, future chief resident at SUNY Downstate, has served as the program coordinator since 2023.
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Fulbright Fellowship, the Armenian American Medical Association of Massachusetts, and the Fund for Armenian Relief.
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Cybersecurity experts urge VPN use after Telecom Armenia–AzerTelecom transit d
Armenian cybersecurity experts are urging internet users to strengthen their digital privacy protections following a newly announced agreement between Team Telecom Armenia and Azerbaijan’s AzerTelecom that will facilitate the commercial transit of internet traffic between the two countries.
Karen Vrtanesyan, an information security expert, said the agreement underscores the importance of using virtual private networks (VPNs) to safeguard online communications and reduce the risk of unauthorized access to internet traffic and associated metadata.
“I would recommend that all internet users in Armenia utilize a VPN,” Vrtanesyan told Panorama.am. “Without a VPN, there is no assurance that data transmitted online will remain inaccessible to third parties, whether the Armenian authorities, internet service providers, or other entities.”
Vrtanesyan added that he intends to discontinue a secondary mobile phone number he previously maintained with Beeline, the telecommunications operator that later became Team Telecom Armenia.
The remarks come after Team Telecom Armenia announced a bilateral agreement with AzerTelecom aimed at expanding regional internet transit services. The company said the partnership will increase the geographic reach of its international traffic routes and enable the delivery of transit connectivity to Azerbaijan through its own infrastructure.
According to Team Telecom Armenia, the agreement is intended to diversify regional telecommunications routes, enhance network resilience, and promote greater cooperation within the telecommunications sector.
Cybersecurity expert Ruben Muradyan has also expressed concerns about the implications of the arrangement. While noting that the agreement will facilitate the transit of internet traffic from Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave via Armenian infrastructure, he argued that the deal could also result in Armenian internet traffic being routed through AzerTelecom-operated networks.
Muradyan said such a scenario could expose metadata associated with Armenian users’ online activity, allowing network operators to analyze traffic patterns and build behavioral profiles. He stressed that the issue is not direct access to the content of communications but rather access to connection data, which can reveal significant information about users’ digital habits and relationships.
He further warned that individuals and organizations using fixed IP addresses could face elevated privacy risks, as those identifiers can often be linked to specific users or institutions with relative ease.
Muradyan recommended that public officials, journalists, civil society representatives, and employees of strategically important companies consider implementing VPN services across all devices as a routine security measure.
A VPN encrypts internet traffic and routes it through a secure intermediary server, helping shield users’ online activity from interception and limiting the visibility of browsing and connection data to network operators and other third parties.
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Armenia revokes license of tycoon and opposition figure Tsarukyan’s casino
The operating license of the Shangri La casino, owned by eccentric tycoon and opposition figure Gagik Tsarukyan, has been revoked by the Armenian government. The move was the latest blow against Tsarukyan as he and other opposition figures continue to face pressure following the victory of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party in the parliamentary elections earlier in June.
Tsarukyan, a flamboyant billionaire, owns a variety of businesses and also heads the Prosperous Armenia party, which fell just shy of reaching the 4% threshold to join parliament.
In addition to his almost completed project to install the world’s tallest Jesus Christ statue, Tsarukyan said in May he would construct a giant Noah’s Ark monument in Armenia.
In comments about the revocation of the Shangri La operating license, Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan said financial discrepancies in the gaming machine counters had been discovered after an inspection earlier this year.
Separately, just days after the election, Tsarukyan was placed under investigation on charges of large-scale tax evasion.
The announcement followed reports in Armenian government-affiliated media that Tsarukyan had attempted to leave the country on Tuesday through Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport, but was prevented from doing so.
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Armenia and Azerbaijan agree landmark internet deal as peace process continues
Armenia and Azerbaijan’s leading telecom companies agreed to a joint internet transit project as both countries move forward together after decades of war, boosting regional connectivity.
Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a major agreement to transit internet traffic through their territories, marking a new step in the peace process between the former rivals.
The agreement is expected to diversify regional connectivity routes, enhance reliability and resilience in the South Caucasus, and support infrastructure development in Eurasian telecom networks.
In nearly identical statements, each operator said that “being the leading transit operator in the region,” they are “expanding the number and geography of countries supplying international Internet traffic”.
Telecom Armenia said it is thus “ensuring transit through its own infrastructure to Azerbaijan,” while AzerTelecom said it “ensures the transit of internet traffic to Armenia using its own infrastructure.”
Both companies said that “such agreements are aimed at diversifying connection routes in the region, further increasing the reliability of telecommunication networks and developing cooperation in the field of telecommunications.”
AzerTelecom, a leading backbone internet provider in the region, has announced it is developing the so-called Digital Silk Way project, which will establish a new digital corridor between Europe and Asia, including a fibre-optic cable beneath the Caspian Sea, to connect multiple regions and improve global data exchange capacity.
Meanwhile, in another sign of developing Azerbaijani-Armenian cooperation, another shipment of over 400 tonnes of fertilisers was delivered from Russia to Armenia on Tuesday via Azerbaijan’s transit routes.
In total, more than 14,000 tonnes of diesel and over 4,000 tonnes of petrol have been exported from Azerbaijan to Armenia, while over 32,000 tonnes of grain, more than 7,000 tonnes of fertiliser, and smaller quantities of aluminium, buckwheat and anthracite have passed from Russia to Armenia via Azerbaijani territory.
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Von der Leyen plans Armenia visit to show support for pro-EU government
Commission chief’s trip underscores Brussels’ backing for Armenia’s Western turn after a landmark election that dealt a blow to Russian influence in the region.
Literal Bridge Building: Turkey and Armenia
The last time Turkey’s border with Armenia was open, Bill Clinton was the US president and Boris Yeltsin was his Russian counterpart. Jurassic Park was packing movie theaters, and the iPhone was more than a decade away.
So any plan to restore ties between the two marks a historic moment. On June 8, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan expressed confidence that Armenia and Turkey would soon achieve full normalization of relations and that tangible progress had already been made.
This follows Turkey’s decision in May to lift restrictions on bilateral trade with Armenia. Previously, goods shipped from Turkey to Armenia were first registered as exports to a third country and then re-exported to Armenia. New regulations will allow goods to be sent from Turkey to Armenia through a third country and in the opposite direction; the final destination or point of export can now be designated as “Armenia/Turkey”.
This is a notable change given the fact that diplomatic relations between the two countries ruptured in 1993 because of the first Nagorno-Karabakh war. Turkey stood by its Azerbaijani ally and closed the border. Despite a few diplomatic efforts in subsequent years, relations have remained limited.
Things began to change right after the second Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020, when Baku regained some territory. Armenia felt betrayed by its supposed ally, Russia, which had refused to intervene, and sought to improve relations with Turkey. Rapprochement, it believed, would diversify Armenia’s economic dependence on Russia, and might also dilute the Ankara-Baku axis.
The process developed over the next few years, with Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan meeting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2022 and again last year.
Yet, the real acceleration in relations has come over the past few months, coinciding with the deterioration of Russo-Armenian relations. On March 11, Turkish Airlines launched direct flights on the Istanbul-Yerevan-Istanbul route. In April, a meeting of the working group on the restoration of the Gyumri-Kars railway was held in the Turkish city of Kars. On May 4, Pashinyan announced a deal to rebuild the medieval Ani border bridge, and on May 23, the opening of the Akhalkalaki (Georgia)–Kars (Turkey) railway for the supply of goods between Armenia and the European Union.
The momentum behind the ongoing rapprochement is expected to strengthen. That was underlined by June’s parliamentary elections in Armenia, where Pashinyan and his party, Civil Contract, took 64 seats in the 105-seat National Assembly. His electoral campaign was based on the idea of further expanding relations with neighbors, including Turkey and Azerbaijan, and potentially building deeper ties.
In a sign of the warming environment, Erdoğan congratulated Pashinyan on his election and added that the Armenian premier’s “vision of long-term peace and stability in the region and ensuring the necessary cooperation in this area will be successfully realized”. This contrasted with Russia’s reaction to the election results — Moscow offered no congratulations, signaling its unhappiness with the outcome and with Pashinyan’s policies.
The Armenian-Turkish rapprochement is therefore directly linked to Russia’s changing position in the South Caucasus. Since the all-out war in Ukraine began, Moscow’s power in the region has notably declined. China, the EU, the US, and, not least, Turkey, all have increased their economic and political engagement with the South Caucasus countries. Ankara is particularly successful given its geographic proximity and economic leverage. For Armenia, it offers an alternative trade route to Europe that does not pass through Georgia, to its north.
The pace of improving relations between Ankara and Yerevan will be contingent upon how quickly and efficiently Armenia and Azerbaijan improve their relationship and sign a comprehensive peace treaty settling all outstanding issues.
Yet, even if this is a slow process, the peace treaty is likely to be agreed, and will signal another major geopolitical development in a region when Russia’s once-close ally is diversifying its foreign policy and economic ties.
Ultimately, the war in Ukraine distracted the Kremlin. Armenia is not alone among Russia’s neighbors in using this moment to pursue alternatives to the old dependency.
Emil Avdaliani is a research fellow at the Turan Research Center and a professor of international relations at the European University in Tbilisi, Georgia. His research focuses on the history of silk roads and the interests of great powers in the Middle East and the Caucasus.
Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe’s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
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