O n October 27, a webinar on Armenia-Iran bilateral relations and the post-war regional situation was held on the initiative of Orbeli Analytical-Research Center. Grigor Melkonyan, Counselor of Department for Neighboring Countries of Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Seyed Hossein Tabatabai, Advisor of the Cultural Center of the Iranian Embassy in Armenia delivered an opening speech.

Armenian and Iranian experts were also engaged in the discussion, presenting the situation in the region after the 44-day war and the prospects for the development of bilateral relations.

 

 

Iranian experts positively assessed the Armenian-Iranian good-neighbourly relations and stressed the importance of further developing and deepening those relations in various fields. The prospects for the transit cooperation between the two countries were also touched upon.

Besides issues related to bilateral relations, Iranian experts referred to negative and destructive role of some regional and extraregional forces. The experts pointed out the fact of Azerbaijan’s being non-constructive and unreliable partner in terms of transit cooperation, citing Azerbaijan’s working style on the Goris-Kapan road.

Ahmad Kazemi, a specialist in international law and senior expert on Eurasian issues, noted that the special geographical location of Iran and Armenia provides wide opportunities for economic cooperation in regional and international projects. 

The expert singled out 6 main areas of possible economic and transit cooperation between Iran and Armenia: North-South Corridor, East-West Corridor, cooperation in the EEU and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, cooperation in Chinese One Belt, One Road project and also cooperation in the Persian Gulf- Black Sea transit corridor.

Jafar Khashen, Executive Director of the Caucasus Research Institute, stated in his report on “The Neighbourhood Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards the Republic of Armenia: Capacities and Obstacles”, that Iran’s neighbourhood policy towards Armenia has geopolitical and economic bases. According to the expert, from the geopolitical point of view, the two countries should act together and from the point of view of economic cooperation, they should develop relations in both regional and international economic platforms, besides the bilateral level.

Shuaib Bahman, expert in Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy presented a report on “The Need for Cooperation Between Iran and Armenia in the New Caucasus”. He emphasized the elimination of the corridor contradicting to the interests of Iran in the new geopolitical situation in the region after the 44-day war.

According to the expert, Iran should make active investments in Armenia and particularly in Syunik and should expand security cooperation with Yerevan.

Ehsan Movahedian, Ph. D. in International Relations, talked about the need to strengthen economic and military cooperation between the two countries in his report on “Armenian-Iranian relations: Obstacles and Opportunities”. In terms of resisting Turkish-Azerbaijani goals, the Iranian expert considered it necessary for the two countries to complete the construction of Iran-Armenia alternative routes as soon as possible. Movahedian also emphasized the promotion of cooperation in Araks and Meghri Free Economic Zones, as well as close cooperation in the cultural fields.

Among the Armenian experts, who made speeches were expert on Iranian studies Zhanna Vardanyan, Turkologist Gevorg Kalloshyan, expert on Georgian studies Johnny Melikyan and Azerbaijani expert Taron Hovhannisyan.

Expert on Iranian studies Zhanna Vardanyan presented the report on “The Main Challenges of Armenia and Iran After the 44-day War”. She stressed that the Artsakh conflict is not settled yet. The issue on the status of Artsakh isn’t resolved and besides, some territories of Artsakh are under the Azerbaijani occupation. Referring to Azerbaijani goals in Artsakh, the expert emphasized that Baku is trying to evict Armenians from Artsakh and to change the demographic picture of the region.

The expert also stressed that the creation of the corridor on the territory of Syunik is in no way acceptable, to which, however, Baku and Ankara are striving for. She underlined the importance of the steps taken for the development of Syunik, including the implementation of joint Iranian-Armenian projects.

Z hanna Vardanyan also talked about the presence of terrorists in the region, the growing influence of Turkey and about the challenges posed by Baku-Tel Aviv military cooperation.

Turkologist Gevorg Kalloshyan referred to the goals pursued by Turkey in the region after the 44-day war. In particular, he talked about Turkey’s manipulation of the Zangezur corridor and Turkey’s intention to solve regional issues with new formats.

According to the Turkologist, the main goal of Turkey is to completely change the balance of power in the region in his favor and gain a dominant position taking advantage of the situation. He stressed that the major issue of the countries in the region is to stop the implementation of Ankara’s dangerous aspirations threatening the stability in the region and the vital national interests of many countries.

Expert on Georgian studies Johnny Melikyan said in his report on the “New Developments in the South Caucasus and the Prospects for Georgia” that the regional status quo, changed as a result of the 44-day war in Artsakh, posed new challenges for Georgia. According to J. Melikyan, seeing the dangers posed by Turkey in the 3+3 format, Georgia put forward its Georgian Platform initiative.

Touching upon the actions of the Armenian side in the region, J. Melikyan noted that both in the relations between Armenia-Iran and Armenia-Georgia, and in wider formats, it is necessary to implement all the planned projects, which will further strengthen the role of the two countries in the region and will make the implementation of the Persian Gulf – Black Sea corridor even more realistic.

Expert on Azerbaijani studies Taron Hovhannisyan in his report on “Security Challenges After the Second Arsakh War” highlighted Azerbaijan’s destructive actions such as invading the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia as well as its efforts to advance its own agenda in unblocking of communication links in the region.

T.Hovhannisyan noted that these actions of Azerbaijan are encouraged by Turkey, which also supported Azerbaijan during the pre-war period by both supplying arms and transporting terrorists from Syria to the war zone.

At the end of the webinar, the commitment to continue and develop cooperation in such formats was comprehensively attached importance to.