A pawn in the game of heavyweights
Over the last few months, the political landscape in Western Asia has changed drastically. The war between Israel and Iran, which resulted in severe damage to Iran’s strategic infrastructure, has significantly diminished Tehran’s influence in the South Caucasus and opened the door for other regional powers to advance their interests.
Taking advantage of this situation, Baku—supported by its chief ally Ankara—has renewed efforts to push forward the construction of the Zangezur corridor, a traffic artery through Armenia connecting mainland Azerbaijan with its Nakhichivan exclave and, ultimately, with Turkey. The corridor plays a pivotal role for Baku and Ankara, offering both economic and strategic benefits. This renewed momentum was made possible precisely due to Iran’s weakening position on the world stage. Tehran has strongly opposed the project for a number of reasons, including the loss of its transit value, geostrategic influence in the region and its common border with Armenia.
It’s worth mentioning that this project not only deprives Armenia of policy space under challenging international conditions, but threatens its territorial integrity and sovereignty as this territory could eventually be lost by the state. That’s why Yerevan’s rejection of the open corridor concept is quite valid.
Recognizing Armenia’s refusal to relinquish control over the corridor to either Azerbaijan or Turkey, Ankara has suggested that it could invite the USA as a third party. Under the proposed scenario, Washington would lease the corridor from Armenia and delegate cargo transit management and monitoring to a U.S. logistics firm, theoretically allowing Yerevan and Baku to access it on equal terms. However, the benefits of this option for Armenia are rather questionable—in contrast to the obvious gain for the U.S. and Turkey.
If implemented, a U.S.-backed Zangezur corridor would drastically change the geopolitical map in the region. American control over this route in Armenia’s Syunik region would definitely strengthen Washington’s position in Western Asia as well as provide it a strategic foothold closer to one of its adversaries, Iran.
Taking into account all the above, it becomes clear that Baku, Ankara and Washington are advancing their own interests in the region. Azerbaijan is just a pawn in a larger game among regional and global heavyweights, who are maneuvering to expand their influence in Asia and outflank weakened competitors.
Boghos Babayan is a student at the California Institute of Technology with a continuing interest in Armenian geopolitics.
