Tag: geopolitics

Armenia and Azerbaijan have finalized peace negotiations, with Yerevan accepting Baku’s proposals on the withdrawal of third-party forces on the border and all international legal claims. However, Baku insists Armenia amend its constitution to remove alleged territorial claims as a prerequisite to signing a peace treaty.

Hungary recently blocked EU assistance to Armenia through the European Peace Facility, yet another move highlighting its strategic alignment with Azerbaijan, from supporting Baku's actions in Nagorno-Karabakh to blocking EU statements condemning them to extraditing a convicted murderer more than a decade earlier.

European stereotypes of the mercantile Armenians over the last 500 years persist in contemporary discourse among Armenia’s neighbors. Understanding the proliferation of these stereotypes and their origin is imperative for lasting peace in the South Caucasus.

Expectations and optimism are often the primary drivers of investment activity. It’s easy to be negative in the current times that Armenia is living, however, hope and optimism are key to inspiring drive, effort and motivation, especially when Armenia needs it most.

Over 30 years ago, a statue of Lenin towered over the heart of Yerevan until it was dismantled. The recent centennial of Lenin’s death went mostly unnoticed in Armenia but it might have sparked reflection on Lenin’s impact during the Sovietization of Armenia and how his definition of self-determination has had consequences on contemporary geopolitics.

2024 has gotten off to a bad start, with several destabilizing fires fueling the specter of a widespread conflict. In these circumstances, Armenia must opt for a global view of the regional situation, writes Tigran Yegavian.

Without a clear recognition of the reality on the ground, especially Azerbaijan's obstructionist behavior, and without substantive enforcement instruments provided by international actors, a piece of paper cannot serve as a real peace deal, Tatevik Hayrapetyan writes.

The region’s security arrangement remains in flux as Azerbaijan amplified its rhetorical aggression and engaged in expansive troop movements and build-up in border areas. Greater Western involvement has deepened the alliance between Azerbaijan and Russia. While Moscow and Baku have established a united front against the West’s presence in the region, Armenia has proceeded to reconfigure its strategic interests, advancing its democracy narrative, while aligning its preferences to the resolution of the conflict with the Western-led stabilization efforts.

Being at the crossroads between East and West, Armenia has thrived only when these two forces were at an equilibrium and neither was strong enough to exert disproportionate influence on its domestic affairs. But what about its connection to Mediterranean civilizations?

The devastation caused by the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria last week is human, material, political and diplomatic. Tigran Yegavian explains.