The EU is forging firmer ties with Armenia following top-level meetings between the country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and top Eurocrats Friday—despite efforts of Turkey and Azerbaijan to derail the process.
Due to the perceived failure of its traditional ally Russia to protect it, Christian Armenia is now looking to decouple from Moscow as soon as possible to prevent more land grabs by Islamic Azerbaijan. EU peacekeepers already monitor the Azeri border with France taking the initiative on bringing the country further into the EU’s orbit.
On Friday, Pashinyan used an ongoing EU-U.S. summit in Belgium to make the case for stronger economic ties with the West. The European Commission approved €270 million in economic support for the country, helping Armenia’s EU ambitions to take a crucial step forward. In her post-meeting remarks, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was upbeat about the prospects of eventual Armenian candidate status.
Both Blinken and von der Leyen spoke on the telephone with Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev prior to the meeting with Armenia’s PM to reassure him of their continued commitment to existing partnerships with the country. Aliyev denounced the Brussels talks, saying they were “directed against Azerbaijan.”
Firefights were also reported from the Azeri-Armenian border Saturday after the EU’s announcement.
Armenia is fighting for its survival after four years of disastrous border wars with the Turkish-backed Azeri army, which has resulted in the loss of the previously contested Nagorno-Karabakh region and the displacement of 100,000 ethnic Armenians.
Meanwhile, Armenian diplomats presented intelligence of what they believe is a looming Azeri offensive. The country fears that Azerbaijan may seek to erode Armenia’s statehood in the coming decade.
Turkey warned that the EU and U.S talks with Armenia “undermine the neutral approach that should be the basis for the solution of the complex problems of the region”.
The general consensus among Western elites seems to favour fast-tracking Armenia into the European bloc as a geopolitical necessity. In a recent op-ed, former NATO boss Anders Fogh Rasmussen declared it is high time that the EU deleverage itself from Azerbaijan.
Regardless of the rhetoric, Armenia may soon be a testing ground for Western resolve against Turkish and Azeri aggression.
