Duo, Trio, Quartet… - Let’s re-think Eastern Partnership

Talking about positive developments: On 13 February the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borell and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met in Brussels for the fifth EU-Armenia Partnership Council since 2018. The two sides decided “to launch a new ambitious agenda of cooperation between Armenia and EU”. After starting accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova late last year, and granting candidate status to Georgia, Brussels seems to understand that there is a fourth country in Eastern Europe interested in close association with and potential integration into the EU.

With the war in Ukraine going on, a destructive Russia still away from being defeated, and a duo (MD, UA), trio (MD, UA, GE) or quartet (MD, UA, GE, AM) configuration at its Eastern border, it seems a good moment for the EU to re-evaluate and re-conceptualize the Eastern Partnership program. Wouldn’t that be a decent first flagship initiative for the new European Commission later this year? In any case and no matter how strange that sounds, it might be a unique opportunity for Hungary that is holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2024…

On 1 February we organized a presentation of the book “Ethics of Political Commemoration” by Hans Gutbrod and David Wood. It was the first event within a new series of discussions called "(Re-)locating identity – Armenia in the South Caucasus", in which together with the Goethe-Zentrum Yerevan we aim to reflect on the topic of identity and locality in Armenia and the South Caucasus. The discussion was moderated by anthropologist Gayane Shagoyan and commented on by artist and curator Ruben Arevshatyan, while Hans Gutbrod further elaborated on the content of his book. 

Pashinyan proposes non-aggression pact
Speaking at an event to celebrate Armenian Army Day on 28 January, Prime Minister Pashinyan proposed to Azerbaijan to agree on a non-aggression pact, "if it turns out that the signing of a peace treaty takes longer than expected". The Prime Minister further suggested to demilitarize the border and create a mechanism of mutual arms control with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly opposed the proposals, accusing Pashinyan of trying to divert attention away from the peace agreement discussions.

Russia no longer the largest foreign investor in Armenia
According to the Ministry of Economy, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) surpassed Russia as the largest source of foreign direct investment in Armenia in 2023. General trade turnover with the UAE also increased significantly, reaching 2.3 billion USD in 2023, up from 500 million USD in 2021. The high trade and investment volumes are an indication of Armenia's interest in moving closer with the UAE, additionally underlined by the introduction of a visa free regime and direct flights between Abu Dhabi and Yerevan.  

Armenia and Georgia sign strategic partnership agreement

Upon a state visit to Tbilisi on 26 January, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan and his then Georgian counterpart Irakli Gharibashvili signed a memorandum on a strategic partnership between both countries. Although both leaders did not elaborate on the specifics of the agreement, they lauded the good bilateral relations. On his final occasion of hosting a state guest as outgoing Prime Minister of Georgia, Gharibashvili noted that "historically, [Armenia and Georgia] are very strong allies, not only neighbors, but friends". 

Political swap in Tbilisi

On 29 January, Prime Minister Gharbiashvili announced his resignation. In a swap of positions, Gharbiashvili took over the chairmanship of the ruling Georgian Dream party from Irakli Kobakhidze, who was appointed as the new Prime Minister on 9 February. When presenting his government program titled "For Building a European State", Kobakhidze emphasized as his primary objectives the peaceful resolution of the Russia-Georgia conflict, the restoration of the country's territorial integrity, and Georgia's Euro-Atlantic integration.

Papuashvili accuses CSOs of lack of transparency and political bias

On 9 February, Speaker of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili published a long letter criticizing Georgian Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) for allegedly not being transparent and showing political bias. He further suggested ways to deal with this "problem”: By creating portals for financial transparency of civil society and making donors accountable for the activities of the organizations they fund.

Cultural heritage burns in Abkhazia

A fire at the National Gallery of Paintings in Sukhumi, the administrative center of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, destroyed more than 4,000 art pieces - almost the entire collection. Among it were 300 portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings by Aleksandr Shervashidze-Chachba, known as “Abkhazia’s first professional artist”, who worked with Pablo Picasso and Alexandre Benois. Firefighters suspect the cause of the fire was a short circuit.

President Aliyev wins presidential elections 

As widely predicted, President Ilham Aliyev was confirmed in office on 7 February, with support of 92% of the voters at a voter turnout of 76%, according to official data. He entered his 5th term and will stay in office for another seven years. As the independent election observation mission of the OSCE concluded, the election itself was accompanied by cases of voting fraud, as well as long-standing repressions against political opposition and independent media.

Azerbaijan leaves PACE, threatens to withdraw from Council of Europe and ECHR

On 24 January, the Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) announced to halt cooperation with the institution. This was declared just before PACE itself denied a renewal of the delegation’s credentials due to serious concerns about the democratic, humanitarian and human rights situation in the country. President Aliyev further threatened to fully withdraw from the Council and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), should Azerbaijani rights in PACE not be restored.

Sixth Armenian-Azerbaijani border delimitation meeting brings no progress

A bilateral meeting of senior officials in the Armenian-Azerbaijani border region on 31 January did not lead to substantial results on questions of delimitation and demarcation of the border between the two countries. The matter is still a major obstacle to achieving a peace agreement. The disputed issues include the maps used for delimitation, the fate of enclaves, territorial claims, and the sequencing of border delimitation.