New railway infrastructure winds through the mountains in Armenia, circa January 2025. Armenia has shifted from the periphery to the center of Eurasian connectivity projects, writes Alexander Sokolowski. (Shutterstock/Chalerempon Poungpeth)

Why Armenia Is the Linchpin of the Caucasus

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Eurasian connectivity can no longer ignore Armenia’s potential opportunities.

A small, landlocked country, long dependent on Russia and embroiled in a painful, decades-long conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan, Armenia seems an unlikely candidate to become so consequential for the region’s prospects. Azerbaijan is more powerful, with a strategic alliance with Turkey, a larger economy, a growing Caspian port, and lucrative oil and gas exports. Georgia, Armenia’s other South Caucasian neighbor, has economically valuable Black Sea ports, serves as the default regional transit hub, and has long attracted greater attention and financial support from Western countries.

Previously the “odd man out” in the Caucasus, Armenia is becoming the unexpected linchpin for new opportunities to connect Central Asia and the Caucasus to Europe. Armenia now looks to be indispensable for aspirations to stabilize and transform the region: for ensuring the prospects for a lasting peace agreement with Azerbaijan; for catalyzing the building of major new trade, transit, energy, and technology linkages as part of the growing east-west Middle Corridor network; for maintaining regional autonomy and a pro-Western voice; and for supporting a foothold for the freedoms necessary for innovation.

First, the fate of the long-negotiated final peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan still hangs in the balance. Azerbaijan has insisted........

© The National Interest