Publications
New Azerbaijan-Iran Railway Agreement Grapples With Regional Tensions
By Fuad Shahbazov, Baku-based independent regional security and defence analyst
On October 15, Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways Rovshan Rustamov arrived in Tehran to meet his Iranian counterpart Jabbar Ali Zakeri Sardroudi to discuss the construction of a railway line linking Azerbaijan’s East Zangezur region and its Nakhchivan exclave through Iran. The meeting came amid intensive diplomatic negotiations between Azerbaijan and Iran regarding the Aras Corridor transit route linking Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan and further to Türkiye via Iran after a period of silence and diplomatic rifts between the two neighbors. The Aras Corridor project, strategically significant for both Baku and Tehran, emerged following Azerbaijan’s persistent efforts after the 2020 Karabakh War to establish regional communication lines, particularly a land route, through Armenia’s Syunik province to Nakhchivan and Türkiye, known as the Zangezur Corridor. The ongoing confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the land route through Syunik province has been a major point of contention, delaying the signing of a final peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan. READ MORE
Publications
The Future of Regional Corridors in the Middle East and India’s Role 
By Yeghia TASHJIAN, Beirut-based regional analyst and researcher, columnist, "The Armenian Weekly”
With the future of key connectivity projects at stake, India must step up as a reliable mediator as the war in the Middle East escalates.
On 7 October 2023, Hamas launched the “al Aqsa Storm” operation against Israel, triggering a series of retaliatory military actions from both sides. Iran-backed groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and militias in Yemen also became involved, further escalating the conflict. With rising regional tensions and direct involvement from both Israel and Iran, instability across the Middle East has intensified. This conflict will also impact the future of economic corridors in the region in which India invests. In this context, the future of two important corridors—the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC)— is at stake. India initiated both corridors, emerging as a rising power in Eurasia.
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Publications
Armenia’s Constitutional Catch-22 
By Tabib Huseynov, independent policy analyst and researcher
In October 2024, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan simultaneously approved a Protocol regulating the joint work of their respective border delimitation commissions. Originally signed in August, this Protocol sets the legal and procedural framework for the subsequent border delimitation process between the two South Caucasus neighbours, who have been locked in a territorial dispute for over three decades. The protocol’s enactment in both countries became possible after Armenia’s Constitutional Court issued a landmark Decision No. 1749 on 26 September 2024, confirming that the border delimitation agreement complied with Armenia’s Constitution. As border delimitation is a key issue in the post-war normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, this favourable decision was widely anticipated. However, the Court’s Decision is remarkable not for its outcome, but rather its legal rationale, which traps Armenia in a legal and political Catch-22. READ MORE
Publications
The Middle East Viewed from Eurasia: It’s All about Realpolitik By Yeghia TASHJIAN, Beirut-based regional analyst and researcher, columnist, "The Armenian Weekly”
In his book “The Tragedy of Great Power Politics” one of the world’s leading realist scholars John J. Mearsheimer argues that in an unbalanced multipolarity, the balance of power is so asymmetrically distributed in favour of one side, that other great powers have no choice but to come together to balance the hegemonic power. This is the only rational choice among other great powers. As such, this kind of international order is fragile and always prone to wars. Within this logic, many would assume that Eurasian powers such as Russia and China should have fully backed Iran or its non-state allies in the Middle East to defeat Israel, or at least contain US interests in the region. Interestingly, this is not the case. Moscow, Beijing, and New Delhi (another rising Eurasian power) are engaging in strategic balance and realpolitik to assess the situation, waiting for the outcome of the US presidential elections, and aiming to contain any spillover effect to their zone of influence.
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