South Caucasus

The working visit by the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze to Azerbaijan on January 17 suggests that both countries recognise that close cooperation is essential for ensuring stability and fostering prosperity in the region. During the visit, Kobakhidze met with Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov and participated in a session of the joint intergovernmental commission, which included delegations from both countries. The discussions revolved around the partnership between the two countries, bolstering trade and economic ties, as well as expanding cooperation in the energy and transportation sectors.

The  Georgian government has driven the country toward a human rights crisis in 2024, Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2025. The report published Thursday stated that the Georgian government has adopted new repressive laws, unleashed brutal police violence against mostly peaceful protesters, and pivoted away from the European Union accession process and the human rights reforms this would have required.

Giorgi Gakharia, a former prime minister of Georgia who now leads one of the country's main opposition groups, was hospitalised after being severely beaten. Acording to media reports he sustained injuries on his face and head during an assault by several men at a hotel lobby in Batumi. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Gakharia said his health was stable. His party, For Georgia, called the assault a "brutal, coordinated group attack" and said the government was to blame. Party in government has denied any wrongdoing.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan launched the U.S.-Armenia Strategic Partnership Commission on January 14 marking the latest milestone in the bilateral relationship between the two countries.  The United States and Armenia signed the strategic partnership agreement at the State Department in Washington expanding cooperation in security and several of areas as Yerevan appears to distance itself from Russia, a traditional. The United States is "working with Armenia in the realm of security and defense, and in particular, to support its efforts to assert its independence and sovereignty over its own territory," Blinken said at the signing ceremony.

When I moved to Yerevan in October 1998, it was rare to hear much positive conversation about the future of Armenia or Karabakh. That had also been the case when I visited the country on a research trip earlier that June. Many were already tired of the conflict and few seemed enthused with a new regime that had just come to power after the ousting the country's first president earlier that year. Levon Ter-Petrosyan had chosen to resign following a palace coup staged by his inner circle opposed to a concessionary peace deal with Azerbaijan. They thought the deal proposed by a troika of France, Russia, and the United States was a betrayal. Ter-Petrosyan warned that it might well be the best Armenia could ever hope for.

The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Magdalena Grono paid her first official visits to Armenia and Azerbaijan from 7 to 11 January 2025. According to the official X account of the EUSR for the South Caucasus, valued in-depth exchanges of views were held with the leaderships and officials in both capitals on how best to advance peace, normalisation efforts and regional cooperation. The EU Special Representative also referred to the need to develop bilateral relations between the EU and the two countries. The EU Special Representative also stated she had exchanges with local civic societies but did not make specific references to any organisations.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process began the new year with a bombshell revelation: a video recording from the first congress of the “Yerkrapah” Volunteer Union in July 1993. The footage features Armenia’s first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, delivering a speech on the “success” of Armenia’s “national liberation movement.” The speech, along with the reaction of Vazgen Sargsyan – leader of “Yerkrapah” and Armenia's Defense Minister in the early 1990s – holds significant political, legal, and humanitarian implications for the ongoing peace negotiations between the two countries.

Armenia's government has approved legislation calling for the country to launch the process that will open the path to discussions with Brussels for eventual membership in the European Union. A bill was drafted in response to a petition that called for the country to submit an application to join the EU. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan emphasised to the cabinet on Thursday that the public should not expect a rapid accession to the EU, and that it would in any case require public approval. “Adopting the law doesn’t literally mean Armenia is joining the EU because that cannot be done through a law or government decision, the decision on that can only be made through a referendum,” Pashinyan said after the decision.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in an interview with Armenpress, responded to harsh statements made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and appealed for de-escalation saying that Armenia will remain committed to a strategy for the implementation of the agenda of peace.