The situation in the region will result in certain geopolitical changes. There are both regional and external actors here. “A rather difficult situation has been created and we must be able to define the constants for Armenia from which the actions must be derived,” said political scientist Emil Ordukhanyan, noting that Armenia, in particular, Syunik, has a key role in all this. The event was organized by the Armenian Center for Democracy and Security. The topic was on Iran’s activity and tense regional developments. According to Mr. Ordukhanyan, the Artsakh war was a stage that caused the generation of other processes in the region.
“We see that the interests of everyone – Russia, Turkey, Iran, the West, and India – are in Syunik. And a lot will depend on our position.” According to the political scientist, in case we unblock any routes passing through the sovereign territory of Armenia, they should definitely be under the control of the Republic of Armenia. “The Armenia-Georgia-Iran balancing format is a vital project for us and we must do everything to launch this. It will give Armenia an infrastructure opportunity, including competing with Azerbaijan for infrastructure opportunities through Georgia. Third, the transformation of the border with Iran through the Syunik sector should not be subject to any review in the form of any coercion or offer by external forces. And these proposals are so attractive that we tend to somehow make the issue of this border debatable. Under no circumstances should we take actions that would make us hostile to Iran.”
According to Armen Petrosyan, the Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance aims to exclude Iran from regional processes as an active player and reduce Azerbaijan’s dependence on Iran at the micro and macro levels, because after Azerbaijan’s independence, Iran actively competed with the two states, by emphasizing the religious and cultural factor. “Prior to the Goris-Kapan road incident, the Azerbaijani side had diplomatically warned Iran to suspend supplies to Artsakh, which followed the concrete action.”
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According to him, Azerbaijan called on friendly countries to be involved in the construction process in the occupied territories of Artsakh, but it is noteworthy that it did not turn to the Iranian side. According to Mr. Petrosyan, at the public and political level, hatred towards Iran is constantly generated in Azerbaijan. “The exclusion of the Zangezur corridor is currently an important issue for Iran, with which it can return to the region. We have the only player in the region that openly rules out the issue of the Zangezur corridor, and it is not ruled out that one of the goals of these actions of the Azerbaijani-Turkish tandem is to change Iran’s position.” According to Armen Petrosyan, there are actors who are obviously against the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem and using that opportunity as skillfully as possible, we should get out from under Turkish-Azerbaijani pressure.
Lusine Budaghyan
