US and West’s Project in Armenia to Counter Erdogan
According to webangah News Agency, the U.S. signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Armenia in January covering economic, defense, and security collaboration. This followed Washington’s proclamation of $65 million in aid to Armenia-a 50% increase over the previous two years’ allocations.
The European Commission separately pledged €270 million in assistance over four years.
This sudden Western shift toward Armenia in the Caucasus warrants scrutiny. Recent U.S. moves indicate support for Turkish projects in Central Asia and the Caucasus, aiming to counter Russian influence while encircling iran-and ultimately China-through participation in India’s Indo-Pacific initiatives. Azerbaijan serves as a linchpin for this transnational corridor stretching from china to the Red Sea, yet Washington’s latest Armenian overtures suggest alignment with American interests.
U.S. strategy appears largely based on pre-2018 successes across Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. However,Georgia’s unexpected political shift in late 2024 saw the Georgian Dream party secure parliamentary dominance and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze delay EU accession talks until 2028-prompting sharp U.S.-EU reactions including suspended strategic cooperation warnings.
These developments accelerated Western engagement with landlocked Armenia despite it’s geographic constraints between Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Georgia-potentially undermining Turkey’s NATO standing through secondary effects.
Washington overlooked historical Azeri-Armenian enmity when deepening Yerevan-West ties-a factor that contributed to Russia and Iran withdrawing support during recent conflicts while pushing Baku toward Moscow-Tehran alignment as evidenced by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s February 20 meeting with Azerbaijani counterparts during Asian Parliamentary Assembly sessions where both emphasized trilateral economic-energy cooperation amid shifting regional dynamics.
Azerbaijan historically balanced relations between Iran and Turkey while resisting full subordination under Ankara despite ethnic affinities due partly to Ottoman-era violence against Azeri Shias under Selim I involving 40‚000 casualties which informs contemporary wariness despite cultural ties today .
A critical question emerges: Does Washington seek disruption rather than coordination regarding Turkish Eurasian projects? While viewing Ankara’s initiatives as extensions facilitating broader American maneuverability , divergent approaches on Syrian Kurdish autonomy versus Israeli-backed “david’s Passage” connectivity plans reveal basic contradictions particularly concerning Aleppo-Mosul territorial claims .
The West’s Armenian gambit may aim at restraining Erdogan within strictly instrumental parameters even as he pursues independent great-power aspirations -an approach risking diminished Western leverage across Central Asia given apparent bets on Indian partnership over Turkish collaboration for containing China-Russia though New Delhi maintains parallel Moscow-Tehran ties complicating full alignment beyond shared Sino-containment objectives currently ignored by White House strategists focused narrowly on Beijing containment via Indo-Zionist corridor convergence points through occupied territories notwithstanding India’ s diversified hedging strategies .
