Armenia has willingly or unwillingly turned into a zone of geopolitical confrontation. This was stated by international affairs expert Grigor Balasanyan. According to him, what is currently presented as diversification of foreign relations is in reality Armenia’s involvement in the field of rivalry between major powers.
Balasanyan noted that a major geopolitical game is currently underway, and Turkey is one of its components. In his view, it is no coincidence that Turkey also participated in the latest, eighth summit of the European Political Community.
“Each side is trying to play its own role in the broader process,” he stated.
However, Turkey, while taking advantage of the role assigned to it, is primarily trying to advance its own interests.
The prospect of opening the borders remains highly questionable
In this context, the international affairs expert also addressed discussions about opening the Armenian-Turkish border.
“There is talk that Turkey could facilitate the opening of regional routes through its territory, which would expand West-East connections. However, I am convinced that the opening of the Armenia-Turkey border either will not happen in the near future or may never happen at all,” he said.
According to Balasanyan, Turkey and Azerbaijan are not interested in Armenia’s real unblocking. By keeping the issue of border opening on the agenda, they gain the opportunity to extract maximum concessions from Armenia.
Armenia could have taken a tougher negotiating position
Balasanyan stressed that Armenia lived with closed borders for nearly 30 years, yet in terms of GDP per capita it did not fall behind neighboring states.
He believes that opening the borders was not an obligatory or absolutely necessary step for Armenia. In his opinion, the country is capable of developing even under conditions of closed borders.
Moreover, the international affairs expert argues that Armenia should not have rushed to initiate the process first. Instead, it should have adopted a more cautious and calculated approach, turning the issue into a more “valuable bargaining subject” for Turkey and thereby creating leverage and dependencies in different sectors.