| Turkish–Azeri Blockade of Armenia | |||
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| Part of theNagorno-Karabakh conflict andArmenian–Turkish conflict | |||
  Top: A Georgian stamp commemorating the Azeri–Georgian–Turkish pipeline which notably bypasses Armenia. Bottom: The Armenian–Turkish border which has been closed since 1993. | |||
| Date | July 16, 1989 (36 years ago) (1989-07-16) | ||
| Location | |||
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| Methods | |||
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The jointTurkish–Azeri blockade of Armenia is an ongoing transportation and economicembargo against Armenia which has significantly impacted its economy and the regional trade dynamics of theCaucasus. The blockade was initiated in 1989 by Azerbaijan, originally in response to theKarabakh movement which called forindependence from Azerbaijan and reunification with Armenia. Turkey later joined the blockade against Armenia in 1993. The blockade aims at isolating Armenia (andNagorno-Karabakh until 2023) to pressure the Armenian side to make concessions:[9][10][11] namely, the resolution of theNagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan's favor, the cessation of Armenia's pursuit of international recognition ofTurkey's genocide inWestern Armenia, the ratification by Armenia of the 1921 borders inherited from the Kemalist-SovietTreaty of Kars,[a] and the establishment of anextraterritorial corridor through Armenian territory.
This dual blockade led to acute shortages of essential goods,[12] anenergy crisis, unemployment,[7] emigration,[13][14][15] ecological damage,[16] and widespread poverty in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, while also hindering economic development and international trade. The blockade prevents the movement of supplies and people between Armenia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan and has isolated the Armenian side for 30 years;[17] however, with the exception of the Kars-Gyumri railway crossing, the Turkish–Armenian border had already been closed since the 1920s[18] and is sometimes described as the last vestige of theIron Curtain.[19][20][21] Despite the initial devastating effects of the blockade, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh were dubbed the "Caucasian Tiger,"[22][23] for their significant economic growth, particularly in the early 2000s; however, poverty remains widespread in Armenia with economic growth remaining heavily reliant onexternal investments.[24][25][26]
Between 2022 and 2023, Azerbaijan escalated its blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by closing theLachin corridor using a military checkpoint, sabotaging civilian infrastructure,[27][28][29][30] and attacking agricultural workers.[31][32][33][34] The ten-month-longmilitary siege of the region isolated it from the outside world[35][36][37] and produced a humanitarian crisis that was widely considered to begenocidal by experts and human rights advocates.[38][39][40] In 2023, Azerbaijan used military force totake control over Nagorno-Karabakh, resulting in theflight of the entire population to Armenia.
Despite international pressure to lift the blockade,[41][42][43] and Azerbaijan'smilitary resolution of theNagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey and Azerbaijan continue to keep their borders closed to Armenia.[44] With these two countries accounting for half of Armenia's four neighbors,[45] 84% of Armenia's international borders remain closed,[46][47][48] making the landlocked country extremely dependent on Russia and limited trade with Georgia and Iran.[13][49][50][51][47][52]
1989
1990
1992
1993
1994
1995
2008
2022
2023
2025
Azerbaijan started the blockade in September 1989 in response to theKarabakh movement which called for thereunification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.[54]
The Azerbaijan Popular Front, later assisted by Azeri irregular militias and troops, initiated a rail blockade, cutting off food and fuel deliveries to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.[55][56] The blockade disrupted Armenia's economy and strained its resources, with significant impacts on everyday life and infrastructure, triggering anational emergency.[57] The effects were made worse by the1988 earthquake and the collapse of the internal trading system of the USSR.[58] This initial action was compounded byanti-Armenian violence in Baku andSumgait in January 1990. As the conflict intensified, Azerbaijan extended the blockade to all of Armenia, which relied heavily on imports that passed through Azerbaijani territory. Armenianfedayi subsequently raided arsenals and police stations in preparation to defend Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.[59]
In 1991, the population of Nagorno-Karabakh voted forindependence in a referendum, resulting in Azerbaijan attempting to revoke its autonomy andsieging its capital for six months. In early 1992, Armenia and Iran signed a series of economic agreements, leading to the construction of a temporary bridge over the Arax River, which was considered a lifeline for Armenia,[58][45] In May 1992, local Armenian militia in Nagorno-Karabakhcaptured Lachin, ending the region's complete 3-year-long isolation[60] and established ahumanitarian corridor to Armenia.[61][62][63]
In 1992, theU.S. Congress passed legislation to pressure Azerbaijan to lift the blockade against Armenia.Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act prohibited direct government aid to the Azerbaijani government, until it "ceased all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh."
In the harsh winter of 1992, Turkey hesitantly agreed to ship wheat to Armenia promised from the European community but at a very slow pace and at exorbitant prices.[2]
After many Byzantine tactics and several months of delay, Turkey finally agreed to send the 100,000 tons of wheat which the European community had promised to replace. After having humiliated the entire population of Armenia in bread queues, Turkey finally began to ship the wheat across the border in a very slow pace and to an extremely high price The transport of wheat, all the way from Russia to Armenia, cost only two dollars per ton, payable in deprecated rubles Turkey charged $56 per ton in hard currency Armenia was forced to empty its reserves of foreign currency in order to avoid a bread riot). There were many similar actions where Ankara forced the Armenian civil aircraft down on Turkish soil and delayed the humanitarian aid for several months.
Later in 1993, with the aim to assist Azerbaijan, Turkey joined Azerbaijan in imposing a land and air blockade on Armenia and stationed troops on the Armenian-Turkish border.[65][66][67] That same year Azeri saboteurs exacerbated the crisis by repeatedly bombing the remaining gas pipelines[68][69] supplying Armenia through Georgia[70][71][72][73] and attacking Armenian locomotive crews.[74] Georgia did not investigate these acts of terrorism and was believed to steal fuel destined for Armenia that came from Turkmenistan.[75]
A second pipeline from Iran via Azerbaijan was also damaged in theFirst Nagorno-Karabakh War and as of 2006 was still not operational.[72] In 1991 pressure to restart the Metsamor power plant increased after a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan was severed due to the blockade.[76] Local scientists originally condemned the decision to reopen the plant, describing it as a "potential Chernobyl."[77]
Turkey also halted the air transit of foreign humanitarian aid and shipments destined towards Armenia[67][78][79] but eventually changed this policy in 1995 due to pressure from the United States.[80] In 1995, Armenia agreed to excludegenocide recognition to normalize Turkish–Armenian relations, if Turkey excluded Nagorno-Karabakh.[81]
The 2008 Georgian-Russian War was a significant shock to the Armenian economy, as the country's foreign trade primarily relies on routes passing through Georgia due to the Azerbaijani-Turkish blockade.[82][83] During the week-long Georgian-Russian war, the import of fuel and grain through Georgia into Armenia virtually stopped.[84]
Between 2022 and 2023, Azerbaijan escalated its blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by closing theLachin Corridor, resulting in the region's completeisolation from Armenia and the outside world. This isolation ended in 2023 when Azerbaijan seized the region during a military offensive, resulting in theflight of the entire population. The blockade of Armenia proper by Turkey and Azerbaijan continues to this day.
The governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan have demanded the following concessions for lifting the blockade;
Multiple sources, including human rights advocates and locals,[87] have stated that the blockade aims to eliminate the remaining Armenian population in theArmenian Highlands.[88][89][90] During theArmenian Genocide, Turkey also blockaded Armenia in 1918, preventing the influx of food supplies, leading to a famine and epidemics.[91] Being a landlocked country, Armenia is very susceptible to blockades as a form of political coercion.[92]
The ongoing blockade and the ensuingenergy crisis led to large effects on Armenia's environment, economy and civil society. Donald Miller and Lorna Touryan state that Armenians were "reduced to living like their medieval ancestors" due to the deprivations imposed on society.[93]
The blockade had a devastating humanitarian impact on Armenia, exacerbating the effects of the1988 earthquake and leading to severe shortages in essential supplies.[94][75] By 1993, an estimated 90–95% of the population was living below the poverty line.[95][96] Hospitals struggled to function due to acute shortages of electricity, heat, and medical supplies, which led to many ceasing operations. Bread was rationed daily to 200-250 grams per person.[97][98] The decline in living standards led to between 17% and 30% of Armenia's population emigrating.[14][99][15][100]
Public transportation ceased or became prohibitively expensive[93] and schools were closed.[98] Electricity in Yerevan was available for only two hours a day, which raised the risk of freezing or starvation.[70][72] Trees on hospital grounds were cut in order to provide wood for burning to keeping hospitals warm.[101] By 1993, over half of the hospitals in Armenia had stopped operating because they lacked essential resources, leading to the deaths of healthy infants due to the cold and inadequate equipment.[95]
The medical crisis worsened, with supplies of basic items like surgical gloves, syringes, and chlorine for water purification becoming unreliable by 1992.[102] This vulnerability particularly affected the elderly and newborns, causing rapid declines in the level of medical care.[102] The blockade disrupted earthquake reconstruction efforts and further impoverishedArmenian refugees from Azerbaijan, highlighting the critical role of humanitarian aid, primarily from the United States, in Armenia's survival during the early 1990s.
The blockade substantially increases actual travel distances and transportation costs. For instance, the journey from Yerevan to the Turkish border town ofIgdir is extended tenfold because traffic must detour through Georgia due to the closed border.[103]
The historian Peter Rutland states, "The need to unify and protect the Armenian nation was the driving force that persuaded diverse social groups within Armenia to sink their differences and cooperate against the common foe. However, this consensus came at a huge price: years of economic blockade and armed struggle. There is a great danger that the strains arising from the conflict with Azerbaijan will undermine the fragile consensus that launched Armenian democracy."[56]
Alla Mirzoyan states that "The damage caused by the blockade is both material and psychological", noting that it has created asiege mentality,[47] and reinforces thehistorical narrative of joint Turkish–Azeri policy to isolate Armenia.[104] Multiple sources consider the blockade to be a violation of the Treaty of Kars, which calls for "free transit of persons and commodities without any hindrance" among the signatories and that the parties would take "all the measures necessary to maintain and develop as quickly as possible railway, telegraphic, and other communications."[105][106][107] David Davidian, a journalist and lecturer, states that the blockade of Armenia constitutes "a two decades long violation of theTreaty of Kars by half of its signatories."[107]
Following independence, the Armenian government underTer-Petrosyan aspired to improve diplomatic relations with Turkey, despite the ongoing historical legacy of theArmenian Genocide.[108][109] However, according to the economist Eduard Agajanov, this position later changed. In 2005, Agajanov asserted that the need to reopen the borders was downplayed in order to "to preserve the current oligarchic economic system in Armenia, which cannot survive if the borders are opened and competition with Turkish goods becomes tougher."[110][111] The historian Vahagn Avedian states "the Armenian political leadership exploited the animosity from Turkey and Azerbaijan which has stifled democratic development and restrained opposition, fearing that internal unrest could be exploited by Azerbaijan in theKarabakh conflict."[112] He states that this has "amplified the well-known Armenian proverb, 'Rather our sick lamb than the enemy's healthy wolf,'a lesson of two millennia of statehood, balancing in a geopolitical position jammed between superpowers."[112]
The blockade severely stunted Armenia's economic development,[113][114] with over 80% of the country's borders closed for more than 30 years.[115][116] Up until the blockade, 85% of Armenia's goods and 80% of its energy was supplied through Azerbaijan.[117][118] The ensuingenergy crisis produced by the blockade produced massive layoffs[119][92][13] and other enduring effects: economic studies in the early 2000s concluded that the blockade cost the Armenian economy 30–40% of its national productivity,[120][121] and ten years after the1988 Spitak earthquake 17,500 people were still living in temporary housing in Gyumri.[92]
The blockade immediately triggered a severe four-year-long energy crisis and forced Armenia to reconsider using the Metsamor nuclear power plant despite safety concerns.[122][95][123][58] The blockade also increased transportation costs for goods[124] and gives Georgia a near-monopoly position over Armenia.[125][126]
The economic growth of Armenia was crippled after 1989 by the blockade of fuel and other materials, and nearly all energy was supplied from abroad, causing shortages under the early 1990s blockade. Natural gas delivery from Turkmenistan via the Georgia pipeline was frequently blocked, contributing to chronic fuel shortages.[95] By the winter of 1994–1995, social unrest was fueled by these shortages, and a new fuel agreement with Georgia and Turkmenistan provided slight relief, increasing the daily electricity ration from one hour to two hours. However, long-term increases in fuel depended on further negotiations and Armenia's ability to pay its substantial debt to Turkmenistan.[102]
The closure of theTurkish–Armenian border in April 1993 had significant economic repercussions, with unemployment and poverty remaining widespread due to the ongoing trade blockade imposed by Turkey and Azerbaijan. A reopening of the border could benefit Armenia's economy, despite potential competition from external markets, and would also benefit Turkey's economically depressed eastern regions.[127][128][129][130] The impact of the blockade remains significant and contribute to Armenia's ongoing economic difficulties and complicate its integration into regional economic systems.[131]
The blockade forced reliance on unsustainable practices like widespread deforestation and intensive agriculture, led to risky energy solutions such as the potential reactivation of a nuclear power plant, and necessitated the reopening of polluting industries. These actions were undertaken to mitigate the immediate hardships imposed by the blockade but posed significant long-term risks to environmental health and ecological balance.
One significant consequence has been widespread deforestation,[132] as the blockade cut off fuel supplies, forcing people to rely heavily on wood for heating and cooking during harsh winters. This deforestation has led to soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, and increased vulnerability to natural disasters such as landslides.
Additionally, the energy crisis prompted the government to consider restarting theMetsamor Nuclear Power Plant, which had been shut down due to earthquake risks, thereby raising concerns about potential nuclear hazards. Armenian Environmental Committee Chairman Samuel Shahinian explained the decision: "Our people are so cold we cannot explain anything to them, they just want to be warm."[133] Further safety concerns arose when it was revealed that the ongoing blockade of the country by its neighbours Turkey and Azerbaijan meant that nuclear fuel for the plant was flown onboard Antonov and Tupolev airplanes from Russia into Yerevan Airport in secret shipments which Alexis Louber, Head of the EU delegation in Yerevan, likened to "flying around a potential nuclear bomb."[134]
The blockade also severely affected water resources.Lake Sevan, Armenia's largest freshwater body, experienced significant water level drops due to increased reliance on hydroelectric power to compensate for the energy shortfall.[135][98] Thisdrawdown for irrigation and energy purposes threatened the lake's ecosystem, endangering its flora and fauna.[136]
Furthermore, the blockade's economic strain forced Armenia to reopen highly polluting industries like the Nairit Chemical Plant, which had been closed in the previous year due to their environmental impact.[137]
The blockade has hampered Armenia's inclusion in regional infrastructure projects and promoted its economic and security dependence on Russia.[138][139][140][141] Except with Georgia, all international railway links between Armenia and its neighbors have been closed since 1993 due to the blockade against the country by Turkey and Azerbaijan.[142][143]
The blockade and Turkish government's ongoingdenial of the genocide have been cited as significant barriers to Turkey's membership into the European Union.[144] In its attempt to isolate Nagorno-Karabakh,the Azerbaijani government blacklists humanitarian organizations and journalists who worked in the region.[145][146] The only international organizations who continued to work in Nagorno-Karabakh wereHALO and theICRC.[147][148] TheParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,Reporters Without Borders, and theInternational Federation of Journalists, have called on Azerbaijan to allow entry of independent organizations, including United Nations agencies.[149][150][151][152]
As a result of the blockade, Armenia must depend on unreliable supply routes with Georgia and Iran for trade and humanitarian assistance.[153] Theborder between Armenia and Georgia is crucial because international sanctions restrict trade with Iran, and Armenia's trade with Russia, its main trade partner, relies on transit through Georgia. Approximately 70% of Armenia's foreign trade go through Georgia:[154] however, seasonal weather conditions affecting the Verkhniy Lars border crossing and inconsistent ferry services from Georgia's Black Sea ports limit Armenian goods' access to international markets.[155] Armenia's exclusion from major regional projects is evident in its absence from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway network, which have been instrumental in boosting connectivity and economic integration in the South Caucasus.[156]
To mitigate its isolation, Armenia has sought to enhance its connectivity through alternative routes. Notably, Armenia has been in discussions with India to use Iran's Chabahar Port to boost trade and connectivity. This port offers Armenia access to the Indian Ocean and broader markets in Central Asia and India, which is seen as a crucial step to overcome the limitations imposed by the blockade.[157][116] However, the border with Iran is problematic due to the sanctions it faces.[116][158]
Turkey's decision to join Azerbaijan in the blockade spurred Armenia to approve a security agreement in 1994 with Russia that stations Russian forces at the Armenian-Turkish border.[159] The Metsamor nuclear power plant which supplies Armenia with 30% of its energy requires fuel that is flown in from Russia, due to the land blockade.[160]
Armenian officials have openly stated that the decision to join theEurasian Economic Union was forced by economic and security concerns, citing the blockade as a factor.[161]
Trade between Armenia and Turkey is also imbalanced, with the Armenian market being fully accessible to Turkish goods while Turkey remains almost entirely closed to Armenian imports.[162]
Despite international efforts to lift the blockade, it remains in place. The UN, EU, and theOSCE have repeatedly called for an end to the blockade, linking the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia to Turkey's EU accession. In 2009, the Armenian and Turkish governments signed theZurich Protocols to establish diplomatic relations and lift the blockade. In the protocols, Armenia met two of Turkeys preconditions, including halting international recognition of Turkey's genocide against Armenians and approval of the Treaty of Kars.[163][164] However, pressure from Azerbaijan's authorities[165][166] and oil investment,[167][168] as well as domestic pressure from nationalistic voters,[167] led to Turkey not ratifying the protocols.[169][170]
Recent discussions have highlighted the potential economic benefits of reopening the border. A study by the Amberd Research Center suggested that lifting the blockade could increase Turkish exports to Armenia by 65% and Armenian exports to Turkey by 42%.[171] However, the political landscape and historical grievances continue to hinder progress. Initiatives to normalize relations have repeatedly failed due to additional preconditions set by Turkey and Azerbaijan, including the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict in Azerbaijan's favor, the withdrawal of international recognition of theArmenian Genocide, and Armenia's concession of an extraterritorial corridor through Armenian territory.[166]
On February 11, 2023, the Turkish–Armenian border was temporarily opened for the first time in 35 years, to let humanitarian aid from Armenia reach victims of a major earthquake in Turkey.[172][173]
The international community – including the UN Security Council,[41] theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,[174] EU, and human rights organizations[97][175] – has urged the lifting of the blockade.[42][43] The embargo and accompanying concessions demanded by Azerbaijan and Turkey meet the criteria ofblockade under international law.[176] TheSoviet Russian Republic at the time also petitioned Azerbaijan to lift the blockade.[177]
Armenia received humanitarian supplies from the USA[178] and Syria.[179] In 1992, the USA passed legislation which banned direct U.S. aid to Azerbaijan to pressure Baku to lift its blockade on Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.[180][170]Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act specifically excludes Azerbaijan from receiving U.S. assistance until it ceases all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh; however, since 2002, the US government has consistently waived Section 907[181] and provided military funding to Azerbaijan.[182][170] Political analysts,Sam Brownback andMichael Rubin, say that the US should enforce the Humanitarian Corridors Act,[183][184][185] which bans US aid to countries such as Turkey that prevented the delivery of US humanitarian assistance.[186][170]Michael Rubin also states that Turkey's ongoing blockade of Armenia violates the1921 Treaty of Moscow.[187] Soviet physicist and human rights advocate,Andrei Sakharov, called for an air bridge, arguing the international community had a duty to uphold the 1948 Geneva Conventions, which prohibit blockades against peaceful countries.[188]
Political observers have criticized the US decision to waive or not enforce these acts, suggesting that US policy has abetted Azerbaijan's actions.[189][190][191] David Phillips, political scientist at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights, stated in 2020 that it was unlikely that the US government would end its assistance to Azerbaijan: noting that the US had provided $120 million military assistance to Azerbaijan between 2018 and 2020, and thatPresident Donald Trump received money from licensing agreements in Turkey and money from Azerbaijani oligarchs.[170]
The European Parliament has condemned the blockade and called on Turkey to normalize relations with Armenia,reaffirming its recognition of the Armenian Genocide.[192] In 2004, the European Parliament urged Turkey to lift its blockade against Armenia as part of its European ambitions. The EU has made thenormalization of Armenian-Turkish relations a precondition for Turkey's accession to the EU.[193]
Christian Solidarity International wrote that "the blockade of Armenia is a new form of racism: its people are being subjected to great suffering because they are of the same nationality as the people of Karabakh who arefighting for their independence."[97] Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian stated that Azerbaijan's continuation of the blockade amidst1988 earthquake reconstruction efforts, reveals deeper motives than just nationalism: "It is an attempt, first, to annihilate the Christian minority in Azerbaijan."[194]
Turkey has demanded certain conditions for normalizing relations with Armenia, initially the resolution of theNagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan's favor, and later added other conditions: the withdrawal of international recognition of theArmenian Genocide, and Armenia's ratification of the borders established in the 1921Treaty of Kars, and anextraterritorial corridor between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan. In contrast, Armenia has consistently advocated for establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey and reopening the border without any preconditions.[195][196][197]
The Turkish blockade of the Armenian border and thegovernment's ongoing policy of genocide denial have also been cited asbarriers to Turkey's membership into the European Union.[198][199] A 2004 draft of the European Parliament's report on Turkey's accession bid urged the country to open its borders with Armenia, foster good-neighbor relations, and "give up any action impeding thereconciliation of the two countries."[199]
Armenia'sdeclaration of independence from the USSR calls for recognition of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey andWestern Armenia,[200][201] which includes theKars province. In 2007, the head of the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee, stated that the passage of theUS resolution recognizing Turkey's genocide of Armenians would have consequences for Armenia, leading Ankara to maintain its blockade.[202] In addition to closing its land border with Armenia, Turkey has also denied passage through its airspace to planes bound for Armenia on a number of occasions.[1][2]
Armenia condemns the blockade imposed by Turkey and Azerbaijan, considering it a severe economic, geopolitical, and existential threat.[203][204][205] In 1990, Armenians criticized the Soviet Army for not stopping the blockade and not preventing the ensuingBaku pogroms.[206]
Armenia has also challenged the legality of Turkey's border closure, stating that Ankara's actions violate theKars Treaty,[207] the World Trade Organization's (WTO) free trade agreements, theUN Millennium Development Goals, and variousinternational laws that ensure landlocked countries have access to the sea.[208]
Specifically, Article XVII of the Kars Treaty calls for the "free transit of persons and commodities without any hindrance" among the signatories and that the parties would take "all the measures necessary to maintain and develop as quickly as possible railway, telegraphic, and other communications."[209][207] In contrast,ARF, a political party in Armenia and in thediaspora overtly rejects the Treaty of Kars and states that because the three Transcaucasian Republics wereunder the control of Moscow in 1921, their independent consent was questionable.[210]
Despite Armenia's accusations that Turkey has violated the Kars Treaty, Armenia continues to affirm its acceptance of the current border, with government officials stating that the country acknowledges the Treaty of Kars andthe existing border, as well as the commitments established by the treaty. Armenia has avoided making official declarations about the Treaty of Kars asserting that this issue should be addressed as part of broader negotiations between the two nations rather than as a prerequisite for talks.[211]
Armenia has consistently advocated for establishing diplomatic relations and reopening the Turkish–Armenian border without any preconditions.[212][213] Following the2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, Armeniaagreed that multiple routes be opened simultaneously that connect Armenia to Turkey and Azerbaijan.[214][215] In contrast, Azerbaijan and Turkey[216] have insisted onan extraterritorial corridor exclusively between Azerbaijan and its exclave ofNakhchivan.[217] In 1995, Armenia agreed to excludegenocide recognition to normalize Turkish–Armenian relations, if Turkey excluded Nagorno-Karabakh.[81]
Azeri policy has been to force Armenians to choose "prosperity without Karabakh or poverty with Karabakh,"[218][116][1] by excluding Armenia from regional infrastructure projects[219] and petitioned its trading partners Georgia and Turkey to maintain pressure on Armenia.[220] Azerbaijan has stated that the fossil fuels it sells to Georgia should be exclusively for Georgia's use, warning that any re-sale to unauthorized third parties could lead to potential sanctions.[220]
Azerbaijan has also repeatedly opposed the normalization of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia.[221][222][223] Analysts state that the reopening of the Turkish–Armenian border may be contingent on Azerbaijan's leadership, due to Azerbaijan's oil investments in Turkey.[168][167] Azerbaijan's state-ownedSOCAR energy company is Turkey's biggest foreign investor.[168]
In 2004, Azerbaijan threatened to withdraw from peace talks with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh if Turkey opened its border with Armenia; the Azeri Parliament Speaker stated "If Turkey opens the border with Armenia, it will deal a blow not only to Azerbaijani-Turkish friendship but also to the entireTurkic world."[224]
When Armenian-Turkish relations were thawing under the agreed2009 Zurich Protocols, Azerbaijan stated that the relationship "cast a shadow over the spirit of brotherly relations" between Azerbaijan and Turkey, which prompted Turkey to halt the process.[216] Azerbaijan has alsothreatened to seize internationally recognized Armenian territory by force from if it does not concedean extraterritorial corridor to Azerbaijan.[225]
Overall, the blockade and the pressure for Armenia to concede a corridor through its country are seen as part of a broader strategy by Turkey and Azerbaijan to isolate Armenia[226] and force it intogeopolitical subservience,[227][228][229] while also pursuing their own regional ambitions.[230] The journalist Uzay Bulut asserts that Turkey and Azerbaijan still oppose Armenia with blockades and other means because Armenia's independence opposesPan-Turkic interests, despite Azerbaijan'smilitary resolution of theNagorno-Karabakh conflict.[231] Former Turkish parliamentarianGaro Paylan states that "both Erdoğan and Aliyev benefit fromhaving artificial or imagined enemies" and therefore are hesitant in making peace with Armenia and opening the border.[232]
In 2013, the historian Vahagn Avedian stated that despite Azerbaijan's alleged calls for a peaceful resolution,Azerbaijan's statements and policies indicate that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could only be resolved throughthe ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh or through alegally recognized referendum in the region.[233]
The historianRichard G. Hovannisian drew parallels between the suffering created by the blockade and the deportations of Armenians during the1915 genocide, stating that "Once again, the forced starvation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in 1915 became a vivid experience for the besieged people of Mountainous Karabagh and Armenia."[234] These parallels have also been drawn by Armenians,[92] as well as other political observers.[187] A group of prominent scholars and political leaders published a letter inThe New York Times in which it urged Soviet authorities and the international community to lift the blockade—describing it as the "strangulation of Armenia"—and ensure the safety of Armenians in the Caucasus, noting the wave ofanti-Armenian violence and pogroms in Azerbaijan.[235]
Two weeks ago, the hospital's telephones went dead when Armenia's last functioning gas pipeline was damaged in an explosion attributed to Azerbaijani terrorists.supplying Armenia through Georgia
Cut off from its traditional sources of natural gas, much of which flowed through Azerbaijan, Armenia went through its first energy crisis last winter, when the Government closed schools and factories and rationed heat and electricity to keep the population going.
The limited opportunities have contributed to an exodus of working-age Armenians since independence 13 years ago, with some estimates putting the population loss at nearly 30 percent.
The destabilizing exodus of some 800,000 educated and resourceful Armenians, mostly young people, occurred at a time when they were needed the most for nation-building.
A blockade imposed by Azerbaijan in 1989 had devastated the Armenian economy; the resulting severe decline in living conditions led hundreds of thousands of Armenians to emigrate.
Armenia's GDP dropped by 56 per cent in 1990-3, and half a million jobs - accounting for one third of all those employed - disappeared.
And so the crisis began. Industiy slowed, factories shut down, and office workers were laid off. Even ambulance service was halted because of a lack of gasoline. People passed the winters in their apartments, where room temperatures hovered close to freezing. Deprived of their jobs, they had only two reasons to go out—to get fuel and food.Alt URL
Most of the working population is on a prolonged furlough, at half pay.
The economic blockade imposed on Armenia by Azerbaijan and Turkey further exacerbated the situation, leading to widespread poverty and unemployment.
The Ministry of Ecology estimates that 800,000 trees were chopped down throughout the country in the first two Winters.as the blockade cut off fuel supplies, forcing people to rely heavily on wood for heating and cooking during harsh winters.
The large-scale felling of trees for fuel during the winters of the blockade has created another environmental crisis....The Ministry of the Environment reported that the lake's water level had dropped by fifty centimeters in 1993. Experts said that this drop brought the level to within twenty-seven centimeters of the critical point where flora and fauna would be endangered.
The outspoken Azeri policy (in conjunction with the Turkish embargo) is to force Armenians to choose "prosperity without Karabakh or poverty with Karabakh," pushing Armenia to the degree of destitution that "people will even stop thinking about Karabakh." This has been confirmed on numerous occasions by President Aliyev himself, the latest from October 7, 2013: 'We must further keep Armenia isolated from diplomatic, political, economic, regional initiatives.' The same applies to the Turkish policy, which, in addition to the Karabakh dispute, also aims at the issue of forcing Armenia to drop its efforts for an international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide.
By inventing a "one nation, two states" formula, the leaders of Turkey and Azerbaijan have worked closely since the early 1990s to marginalize Armenia from regional energy and communication Projects.
This blockade began in 1988, preventing 80% of goods destined to Armenia from entering that country.
According to the U.N. Development Program, 676,000 people—or about one fifth of the population—left during this period, mainly settling in Russia, the United States, or Israel.
Roughly calculated, this wave can be determined from 1991 until 1995. According to CRRC (the Caucasus Research Resource Centres)...more than 17% of Armenia's population migrated between the years of 1991-1995...
The destabilizing exodus of some 800,000 educated and resourceful Armenians, mostly young people, occurred at a time when they were needed the most for nation-building.
The large-scale felling of trees for fuel during the winters of the blockade has created another environmental crisis....The Ministry of the Environment reported that the lake's water level had dropped by fifty centimeters in 1993. Experts said that this drop brought the level to within twenty-seven centimeters of the critical point where flora and fauna would be endangered.
The blockade was accompanied by the regular cutting of the supply of gas and electricity, as well as disrupting lines of communication, such as telephone landlines, cellular signals, and internet. Azerbaijani state actors regularly shut down the supply of gas to Nagorno-Karabakh during the first four months of the blockade...On January 9, 2023, the high-voltage cable from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, the main source of electricity, was damaged in the territory of the Lachin Corridor. Azerbaijani officials did not allow any repair work on it, and the supply of electricity was never restored.
85. Calculations of gas flow indicate that the gas goes to the village of Pekh, and not beyond that point, suggesting that a valve has been installed. The blockage can be checked with the level of gas pressure.
In addition to creating the blockade, Azerbaijan took deliberate measures to instill a sense of insecurity in Nagorno-Karabakh. The shootings near the line of contact continued, targeting people carrying out agricultural work, which was needed for self-sustenance during the blockade.
Azerbaijan has barred the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from using the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the outside world.
Azerbaijan did not allow relief supplies to and medical evacuations from Nagorno-Karabakh for the second consecutive day on Friday, aggravating a humanitarian crisis in the Armenian-populated region effectively cut off from the outside world since December.
Prominent figures in the field of human rights, such as Juan Ernesto Mendez, the Former Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide (2004–2007) at the United Nations and a former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2010–2016), and a collection of the world's foremost scholars within the discipline of Genocide Studies, have described the blockade as indicative of genocide.
Many Armenian officials, international genocide scholars, and international genocide prevention organizations were united in identifying Azerbaijan's actions as a mass atrocity crime, either "ethnic cleansing" or "genocide". Armenian officials tended to prefer the term "ethnic cleansing" while genocide scholars were convinced that Azerbaijan was committing genocide. The latter includes former ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, Genocide Watch, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention. These same organizations, as well as the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), repeatedly warned about the threat of genocide in the months before Azerbaijan's September 19 attack, and, after 12 December 2022, about the already genocidal nature of Azerbaijan's blockade of Artsakh.
Although Azerbaijani authorities rejected claims of ethnic cleansing, numerous international bodies, including the European Parliament, adopted a resolution declaring that the 'forced exodus' of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh 'amounted to ethnic cleansing.'
That this House notes that 24th April 1995 marks the 80th anniversary of the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turkey; condemns this crime; calls upon the Turkish Government to acknowledge that this massacre took place; condemns Turkey's blockade of humanitarian aid to the Republic of Armenia; and calls on European union leaders to apply political and economic pressure on the Turkish authorities to bring about lifting this blockade.
In the early 1990s, the development of Azerbaijan's foreign trade was skewed by the refusal of eighteen nations, including the United States, Canada, Israel, India, and the Republic of Korea (South Korea), to import products from Azerbaijan as long as the blockade of Armenia continued. At the same time, many of those countries sold significant amounts of goods in Azerbaijan.
During the 1990-94 conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey's military involvement was limited and unofficial. For example, politically, Turkey supported Azerbaijan, by completely closing its border with Armenia in the wake of Armenian victories in 1992. This border remains closed despite the Azerbaijani victory in 2020, which removed the reason for the closure of the border. Thus, the Turkish involvement on the Azerbaijani side is currently at an unprecedented level, both politically and militarily.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2025 (link)Suffice to say that because of the sealed borders, Armenia is one of the unique cases in the world that has 80% of its land borders closed. Borders with Georgia and Iran are the only ones open, which, in turn, makes Armenia overly dependent on them.
Armenia is one of the rare states in the world that has more than 80% of its borders sealed. Armenia has only two open borders—Georgia (219 km) in the north and Iran (44 km) in the south.
This all the more so given that Armenia is a landlocked country, and its only practical access to the sea is through Georgia and Iran. Landlocked, with two of its borders closed, connected to its distant markets via uncertain and expensive routes through Georgia and Iran, Armenia's development is thus heavily handicapped by the current closure.
The Azerbaijan Popular Front (PF) began a rail blockade of Armenia and Karabakh, restricting food and fuel deliveries. Anti-Armenian violence occurred in Baku and Sumgait in January 1990.
In large part because of the earthquake of 1988, the Azerbaijani blockade that began in 1989, and the collapse of the internal trading system of the Soviet Union, the Armenian economy of the early 1990s remained far below its 1980 production levels.
The capture of these two towns [Lachin and Shusha/Shushi] had been deemed necessary by the "NKR" forces in order to stop Azerbaijani war crimes and open up a humanitarian corridor to Armenia.
On May 18, [1992] the Karabakh Army entered Lachin (Kashatagh), thus ending the three-year blockade.
Two weeks ago, the hospital's telephones went dead when Armenia's last functioning gas pipeline was damaged in an explosion attributed to Azerbaijani terrorists.
In 1995, Armenia said that it would exclude the genocide from the bilateral agenda, if Turkey excluded Karabakh.
It [the Georgian-Russian War of 2008] was a shock for the Armenian economy, because the country's foreign trade mainly passes through Georgia because of the Azerbaijani-Turkish blockade.
The August 2008 Russian-Georgian war, for example, ruptured Armenia's sole trading route through Georgia to Russia. It starkly underscored the strategic risks posed by Armenia's position, framed by closed borders with both Turkey and Azerbaijan since the 1990s.
Turkey set Armenia's abandonment of territorial designs on Turkey (i.e., on Kars and Ardahan provinces that Lenin ceded to Turkey in 1921), the "politicization" or internationalization of allegations of Turkey's culpability for the "genocide" of Armenians, and a Karabakh solution as preconditions to diplomatic ties. It later added a demand for a corridor between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan.
The local Armenians fear that this is a prelude to an Azerbaijani attempt to fully drive them all out of their homeland.
Today Turkey and Azerbaijan continue to implement their joint blockade against Armenia...Their intentions are very transparent: to destroy Armenia's economic and political infrastructure, to force the population into starvation, and to squeeze that population out of existence.
The government of Azerbaijan, encouraged by its ally Turkey, has long promoted official hatred of Armenians, has fostered impunity for atrocities committed against Armenians, and has issued repeated threats to empty the region of its indigenous Armenian population.
The blockade has created a dire humanitarian crisis among the 120,000 people living in Artsakh and is a clear attempt by the Azerbaijani government to starve, freeze, and ultimately expel Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.
The limited opportunities have contributed to an exodus of working-age Armenians since independence 13 years ago, with some estimates putting the population loss at nearly 30 percent.
A blockade imposed by Azerbaijan in 1989 had devastated the Armenian economy; the resulting severe decline in living conditions led hundreds of thousands of Armenians to emigrate.
The closure significantly raises de facto distances and thus transport costs. For example, the route from Yerevan to the Turkish border town of Igdir is lengthened by a factor of 10 by the closed border, as traffic must transit through Georgia.
According to experts, such a breakthrough was unprecedented in world history: not a single country immediately during the first year of its independence had so actively aspired to development of friendly relations and cooperation with the state that had eliminated a good half of the nation, living on its own historical territory, had plunged it in demographic catastrophe and deprived it of the largest portion of its territory.
As Eduard Agajanov suggested that the need to downplay the necessity for the border opening is dictated by the fundamental goal 'to preserve the current oligarchic economic system in Armenia, which cannot survive if the borders are opened and competition with Turkish goods becomes tougher.'
The perceived animosity from Turkey and Azerbaijan has also been abused by the political leadership inside Armenia and has become a real impediment to the development of democracy in the country. This is perhaps most tangible in the fact that the opposition in Armenia is restrained in its efforts to challenge the ruling elite. Fearing that any confrontation could potentially lead to public protests or, even worse, clashes and political upheaval, the general notion is justified in being wary that a similar turbulence would be exploited by Azerbaijan in the ongoing Karabakh conflict.
The closure of the Turkish-Armenian border in April, 1993 has generated grave costs to Armenia. A re-opening of the border would benefit greatly Armenia's economy and society, even if some economic sectors may suffer from external competition. The opening would also favourably impact Armenia's political development and open the way to the county's full integration into the region.
Armenia's GDP dropped by 56 per cent in 1990-3, and half a million jobs - accounting for one third of all those employed - disappeared.
'To survive the cold, Armenians in Yerevan cut down the city's trees, and plans were made to start up the nuclear power plant at Metsamor.'... 'Environmental conditions in Armenia have been worsened by the Azerbaijani blockade of supplies and electricity from outside. Under blockade conditions, the winters of 1991–92, 1992–93, and 1993–94 brought enormous hardship to a population lacking heat and electric power. (The large-scale felling of trees for fuel during the winters of the blockade has created another environmental crisis.) The results of the blockade and the failure of diplomatic efforts led the government to propose reconstruction of the Armenian Atomic Power Station at Metsamor, which was closed after the 1988 earthquake because of its location in an earthquake-prone area and which had the same safety problems as reactors listed as dangerous in Bulgaria, Russia, and Slovakia. After heated debates over start-up continued through 1993, French and Russian nuclear consultants declared operating conditions basically safe. Continuation of the blockade into 1994 gave added urgency to the decision (see Energy, this ch.).'
The structural effects, however, of such adaptation fostered a degree of mounting dependence on Georgian territory as its sole source for Russian energy and goods. This dependence was quickly exploited by the Georgians as transit and tariff fees quickly exceeded normal market rates. The second external trade route, consisting of a small border crossing point southward through Iran, was without the infrastructure necessary to provide an immediate alternative. The long-closed border with Iran through the Soviet period, the nature of the Iranian market and political regime, as well as the "rogue" state status of Iran all complicated Armenia's use of the Iranian option.
This [blockade] has hit trade hard, particularly in Turkey's depressed eastern regions along the Armenian frontier.
Unemployment and poverty remain widespread. Armenia's economic problems are aggravated by a trade blockade imposed by neighbouring Turkey and Azerbaijan since the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Ministry of Ecology estimates that 800,000 trees were chopped down throughout the country in the first two Winters.
The large-scale felling of trees for fuel during the winters of the blockade has created another environmental crisis....The Ministry of the Environment reported that the lake's water level had dropped by fifty centimeters in 1993. Experts said that this drop brought the level to within twenty-seven centimeters of the critical point where flora and fauna would be endangered.
If Washington's goal was to scale back Armenia's ties to Russia and Iran, then the best way forward would be to pressure Turkey and Azerbaijan to lift their double blockade of Armenia in order to reduce Armenian dependence upon Russia and Iran.
It takes 14 hours to travel from the Armenian industrial city of Gyumri to Kars in Turkey despite a mere distance of 20 kilometers... Similar to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the growing mistrust toward these immediate neighbors led Armenia toward increasing reliance and eventually dependence on Russia for its security and economic needs, pushing it even further away from possibility of improving relations with Azerbaijan or Turkey.
Most international organizations decline to operate in Karabakh because doing so usually results in being blacklisted by Azerbaijan; Halo is the most prominent organization to buck that sanction.
The continuing status dispute had immediate repercussions for the current Armenian residents of Nagorny Karabakh, as Baku pressed to keep them isolated. As before, the only international organisation allowed access to the region is the ICRC.
Following a visit to Armenia from 17 to 19 February 2023, the co-rapporteurs of the [Council of Europe] monitoring [mission] in Armenia shared their findings in a declassified information note, which assessed that based on their observations, movement along the corridor was "severely obstructed". They urged the Azerbaijani authorities to "authorise an independent fact-finding visit and to allow independent journalists to operate freely in the whole area.
Some have questioned the genuine nature of these eco-activists, noting that the protest is taking place in an area that is inaccessible to the public and the independent press
In 1994, Turkey continued its blockade of Armenia in support of Azerbaijan and accused Armenia of fostering rebel activity by Kurdish groups in eastern Turkey; it reiterated its denial of responsibility for the 1915 massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. In June, these policies prompted Armenia to approve the security agreement with Russia that stationed Russian airborne troops in Armenia near the Turkish border.
Talk of opening the border is greeted with great hostility in Azerbaijan, with the government in Baku recently saying this would be seen as a sign of 'treachery'
With Azerbaijan's Socar energy company [being] Turkey's biggest foreign investor, Baku retains powerful economic leverage over Ankara – meaning any hope of reopening the Turkish-Armenian border appears dependent on the wishes of Azerbaijan's leadership.
The foreign ministries of Turkey and Armenia announced on April 24th [2009] that they had agreed a roadmap to normalising ties. No documents were produced and, according to Reuters, none have been signed. However, it is understood that the agreement commits the sides to establishing diplomatic relations, opening the interstate border gradually and establishing a joint historical commission to consider the death of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during 1915.
Finally, it calls on the warring parties to organise the return home of refugees on an urgent basis and to respect minority rights as advocated in its Recommendation 1201, and urgently calls on Azerbaijan and Turkey to immediately end the blockade of their means of communication with Armenia.
We call on the government of Azerbaijan immediately and unconditionally to end blockading the delivery to Armeniaof goods that are basic to human survival.
The embargo and related sanctions of Armenia by Azerbaijan and Turkey meet the minimum threshold of the most recent interpretation of the term blockade under international law, which notes the applicability of blockade on both sea and land by citing 'the actual investment of a port or place by a hostile force.'
It [i.e., US Congress] passed P.L. 102-511, October 24, 1992, Sec. 907, a ban on direct U.S. aid to Azerbaijan to pressure Baku to lift its blockade of Armenia and Karabakh. Subsequent legislation modified the ban but retained it. Both houses have agreed to H.Rept. 107–346, the foreign operations appropriations bill for 2002, which, for the first time, grants the President authority to waive 907.
P.L. 104-107, February 12, 1996, allowed U.S. humanitarian aid to Azerbaijan if the President determined that non-governmental aid was inadequate. That law also included the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act, banning U.S. economic aid to countries that prohibit or restrict the transfer or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance (i.e., Turkey for its 'blockade' of Armenia, actually closure of the land border) unless the President determines that it is in the national interest.
In a move that again angered Turkey, the parliament of the European Union on Thursday reaffirmed its recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide and urged Ankara to lift its 10-year blockade of Armenia. The European Parliament voted by 391 to 96, with 15 abstentions, to reaffirm its 1987 resolution recognizing the mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. It also called on modern-day Turkey to "take appropriate steps in accordance with its European ambitions, especially concerning the termination of the blockade against Armenia.
Even the customs union with the EU in 1995 did not force Turkey to lift the blockade. Turkey insists on preconditions for the normalisation of relations: settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan's favour, the withdrawal of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and unilateral Armenian recognition of the 1921 Treaty of Kars. Unlike Turkey, Armenia has always supported the establishment of diplomatic relations and the reopening of the border without preconditions.
In 1993, Turkey joined Azerbaijan in imposing a blockade on Armenia in the attempt to force Yerevan to abandon its military (and political) support of the Karabakh authorities. Turkey later added two new preconditions before it would consider establishing diplomatic relations and raising the blockade: that Armenia accepted the 1921 treaty of Kars between Kemalist Turkey and Soviet Russia which established the current state borders), and that Armenia ceased pursuing international recognition of the genocide.
According to the NSS the security threats that Armenia faces are the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the aggressive stance of the Azerbaijani government, preparations for military operations against Armenia and/or Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), and the Azerbaijani-Turkish blockade and isolation of Armenia.
By justifying and denying the Armenian Genocide, pursuing aggressive policies marked by the use of force against its neighbours, sustaining land blockade of Armenia for more than two decades and providing political and military assistance to Azerbaijan in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey continues to be a security threat to the Armenian people, which survived the genocide.
Even the customs union with the EU in 1995 did not force Turkey to lift the blockade. Turkey insists on preconditions for the normalisation of relations: settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan's favour, the withdrawal of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and unilateral Armenian recognition of the 1921 Treaty of Kars. Unlike Turkey, Armenia has always supported the establishment of diplomatic relations and the reopening of the border without preconditions.
In 1993, Turkey joined Azerbaijan in imposing a blockade on Armenia in the attempt to force Yerevan to abandon its military (and political) support of the Karabakh authorities. Turkey later added two new preconditions before it would consider establishing diplomatic relations and raising the blockade: that Armenia accepted the 1921 treaty of Kars between Kemalist Turkey and Soviet Russia (which established the current state borders), and that Armenia ceased pursuing international recognition of the genocide.
Azerbaijan has encouraged its trading partners to maintain economic pressure on Armenia. In January, for example, Turkey postponed its plans to supply electricity to Armenia following accusations from Azerbaijan that "close and brotherly ties" between the two countries would suffer as a result. Azerbaijan also insisted that oil and oil products sold to Georgia be used solely by Georgia, warning that Georgia's re-sale to third parties not approved by Azerbaijan could potentially trigger sanctions.
Another cited example of the administration's success was the Turkish proposal to sell electricity to Armenia in the amount of 300 million kilowatts per year. If enacted, this would have rendered the Azerbaijani fuel blockade of Armenia ineffective. Not surprisingly, the deal was canceled under Azerbaijani pressure in November 1993.
President Aliyev has used a variety of tactics to isolate Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia on the international stage. A particular facet of this strategy is attempting to label Armenia as an Islamophobic state...There is absolutely no evidence for the claim of official Islamophobia in Armenia.
The thrust towards Baku was designed to kill the new Armenian Republic at birth, not by a direct assault on the capital Yerevan, but by strangulation. Blockaded on all sides by the superior Turkic military forces, the remaining rump of Armenia grew steadily smaller and was deprived of the essentials for survival.
Turkey's current foreign policy is not based on the search for long-term stability and balance of interests, but on the "law of the strongest" and, in the case of relations with Azerbaijan, a pan-Turkic "brotherhood" ideology.
For both Erdoğan and Aliyev, Armenia's independence is the main impediment to realization of Greater Turan for a simple reason: Armenia blocks Turkic territorial continuity.
I do not want to exaggerate the parallels between the 1915 genocide and more recent events, but I cannot ignore noting the suffering caused by the blockade against the Republic of Armenia and the parallel to the inhumane conditions created by the deportations. Also, the sadistic brutality against the Armenians, including rape, physical disfigurement, and torture, occurred in both the Sumgait-Baku pogroms and the genocide.