A review of an article presented by ECIR
“Armenia and Georgia should form alliance of Caucasus democracies”
by Jonathan Watchtel from Washington Diplomat, a senior policy advisor, spokesman and director of communications at the US Mission to the United Nations, working on Nagorno-Karabakh, South Sudan and other flashpoints. A former journalist, he covered the Soviet Union’s collapse as well as the independence of Armenia and Georgia, and the wars that erupted as a result.
The main points of the article:
While our eyes have been diverted to the inferno in Ukraine, new clashes erupted this month after Azerbaijan attacked Armenia. A similar push by authoritarianism now threatens international consequences in another corner of the former Soviet Union, the Caucasus.
This is happening in a region where a trio of dangerous players—Russia, Turkey and Iran—meet to create a uniquely combustible tinderbox. Rather than witness another bloody catastrophe unfold, the West should pay attention.
Armenia is landlocked and disadvantaged by Azerbaijan’s status as a petro-state with a powerful ally in NATO member Turkey, as well as a useful arms supplier in Israel. But it is also a scrappy young democracy whose heart is in the West. Right to its north lies Georgia, another young democracy which faces its own difficulties with autocracies, having fought a war with Vladimir Putin’s Russia in 2008.
Georgia and Armenia, which share not just democracy but great Christian cultures, should be working together to promote democratic values.
The two small countries would find greater strength in improved scale, and, by drawing the attention of the West, might be able to each move away slowly from competing associations that have kept them apart. As a self-perceived Western nation, Georgia should not align itself with authoritarian Azerbaijan and Turkey. It has probably felt the need to do this because of tepid Western support, which was negligible during its 2008 war with Russia.
To create an Alliance of Caucasus Democracies, Armenia and Georgia would also have to overcome some perception issues as well as common neighborly squabbles. Georgians often consider Armenians, somewhat unfairly, as sellouts to Russia—but Armenia cannot warm relations with Georgia without drawing the wrath of Moscow. Both countries claim to be the true homeland of wine, and they bicker over the origins of each other’s cuisines, among other secondary national and cultural identity disputes that would need to be put aside. Signs of alignment on some of these territorial issues might help this along.
Armenia has never joined Russia in recognizing the disputed territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent, and Georgia, despite close ties with Azerbaijan, did not side with Baku during the 2020 war in Karabakh.
Western support for such an alliance with common goals could temper Azerbaijan’s threats to annex a strip of territory across Armenia’s southern province of Syunik, which borders Iran and separates mainland Azerbaijan to the east from the Azeri-controlled enclave of Nakhichevan.
Such a move, which Baku might be tempted to carry out by force, could cut Iran’s access to Armenia and the Caucasus and establish a land link between Armenia’s foes Azerbaijan and Turkey via Nakhichevan. And it could be a gross violation of Armenia’s right to its sovereign and internationally recognized territory.
The equation also involves Israel, another democracy that sees itself as Western but has ended up on the wrong side of its own values in the Caucasus.
Azerbaijan has close ties to Israel and buys Israeli weapons. The United States, Israel, France and other Western countries love the Caucasus, and all host proud communities of ethnic Georgians and Armenians, as well as Georgian and Armenian Jews.
Israel and Georgia already share economic and cultural relations, and more can be done to warm Israel’s ties with Armenia. Approaching the Georgian, Georgian Jewish and Armenian diasporas would improve Armenian-Israeli relations, Georgian-Armenian relations and South Caucasus-Levant relations, as Armenians live in Lebanon, Syria and Israel.
Western powers—and reputable think tanks—should make the case that the Armenia-Georgia rivalry undermines both nations, detailing how a strategic alliance would advance them regionally and globally. And, critically, the two countries need visionary leadership that understands the potential of an alliance and finds ways to celebrate the rich heritages of each while leveraging their influential diasporas.
Such a strategy would sidestep the divide-and-conquer strategy of bad-faith players aiming to subject smaller countries to their whims, and win Tbilisi and Yerevan a more significant place in the global dynamic.
The opinion of the editors may not coincide with the point of view of the author.
The original style of article is preserved.
Source: The Washington Diplomat. Armenia and Georgia.
ECIR expert group opinion on the article “Armenia and Georgia should form alliance of Caucasus democracies”
The author of the article notes the urgent thesis that the geopolitical dynamics of the South Caucasus and the existing challenges make the cooperation between Armenia and Georgia both in bilateral format more significant. Indeed, the transition to a qualitatively new strategic level of partnership between Yerevan and Tbilisi comes from the national interests of the two countries. It is well known that the Armenian-Georgian interaction in various fields has historical roots. Georgia and Armenia are two fragments of the ancient Christian proto-European civilization that has survived to this day. They must continue their civilizational role by uniting to strengthen their potential, strengthen security elements, preserve their unique identity, which has no analogues in the region.
Armenia and Georgia have not only two points of interaction in the form of democratic values and Christian heritage, as noted in the article, but also the historical experience of a single state and common cultural space, military-political unions and huge historical heritage. Today, the interaction between Armenia and Georgia can lie in the field of transport communications, economic cooperation, the creation of joint financial and investment instruments, the development of educational and science-intensive industries, with a special emphasis on the technology cluster, the development of a joint tourism complex, interaction in the field of culture, in order to preserve unique identity and civilization.
Even though today Armenia and Georgia have different approaches to security issues and these countries are in the zone of interests of global powers that are in the active phase of confrontation, extremely favorable conditions have been created for their cooperation.
In particular, the desire of Yerevan and Tbilisi for democratic standards, serious domestic economic and political processes in the two countries, the need for transport communications, the changing security architecture in the region are transforming the Armenian-Georgian relations, creating new prospects for development, based on the experience of joint work.
Armenia and Georgia still have a long way to go to achieve their goals, but even this prospect of a “common path” will allow Armenia and Georgia to establish fundamentally new political and economic relations in the South Caucasus.
However, the author believes that both countries should oppose regional superpowers, in particular Russia and Iran. On the contrary, the possibilities of balancing the foreign policy of both Armenia and Georgia will contribute to strengthening stability in the South Caucasus. It is important for both countries to develop bilateral relations with regional countries that form elements of economic and energy security without unjustified damage to sovereignty and the influence of third parties.
Moreover, given the formation of a new world order in the region after the Second Karabakh War and the lack of balance between centres of power, both countries should not become a platform for confrontation between third parties, as this could be a significant threat to the interests of Armenia and Georgia.
Only successful interaction between Armenia and Georgia will be able to significantly strengthen the role and position of the two states in the region and will allow them to withstand the period of unstable historical events.
Although both countries have different foreign policy priorities now, one cannot fail to notice the increase in activity in bilateral relations and the formation of a new bilateral agenda.
One of the important points of bilateral relations between Armenia and Georgia, which should be given special attention, is the following principle:
Armenia cannot be a threat to Georgia’s security, and Georgia cannot be a threat to Armenia. The indisputable recognition and observance of this principle can bring bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level and strengthen mutual trust between the two neighbors.
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