New Turkish initiatives

Recently Turkey has taken steps to reinforce its position as regional leader in the South Caucasus. It has now proposed a so-called ‘Peace Road’ connecting the Caucasus region with Europe. This road will start in Azerbaijan and run through Nagorno Karabakh, the Lachin corridor, Armenia, Nakhchivan and Turkey before connecting to the European road network.

It has become clear, and Western leaders have begun acknowledging, that without Turkey the EU will not be able to resolve certain regional problems. It is also apparent that Turkey is playing the key role in new Eurasian land communication initiatives. Some analysts of developments in the South Caucasus highlight that if the Armenia-Turkey border opens Georgia might lose its importance for the USA and Europe as a transit country. Different international agencies suggest that Armenia might be substituted for Georgia as a transit country due to the political instability in Georgia. It is also suggested that Turkey might support Armenia joining the NABUCCO project.

There is speculation that the EU might also prefer Armenia to Georgia as a transit country for NABUCCO. Armenia’s leadership is very cheerful about this. Armenia is offering serious and reliable partnership to the international community. At the moment there are no specific programmes being considered but the country is expressing its utmost interest in participating in both regional and international projects.

Russian agency Regnum suggests that Georgia is rather concerned about the prospects of opening the Armenia-Turkish border as during the blockade of Armenia Georgia has been a transit country supplying Armenia with imports. If the border opens this source of income for Georgia might disappear.