Christian Armenia and Islamic Iran:
An Unusual Partnership Explained
By: Harout Harry SEMERDJIAN
(Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Oxford)
While the West has recently tightened its sanctions
against Iran, its
only Christian neighbour has taken a different approach towards the Islamic
Republic. Political constraints and lack of options have coerced landlocked Armenia to adopt
a policy dissimilar to the West’s for one basic reason—survival.
Armenia is
located in the South Caucasus—one of the most
volatile regions in the world, where East meets West and North meets South. It
lies at the crossroads of Islam and Christianity. This is where NATO and the USSR once
drew their boundary, but where war and history have maintained closed borders
even after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
This is also where expansive oil and gas pipelines traverse, supplying Europe with
energy resources from the hydrocarbon-rich Caspian Sea.
Of all the countries in the region, geography and
history have been the cruelest to Armenia. The
country is blockaded by two of its four neighbours—Turkey to the
West and Azerbaijan to the
East and Southwest—accounting for some eighty percent of the country’s boundaries.
Its border with an often unstable Georgia remains
open to the North as well as a tiny 22-mile Southern border with Iran—termed
as a “lifeline” for the culturally-rich yet resource-poor country of 3 million.
Despite a current cease-fire, Armenia is
technically still at war with Azerbaijan over the
region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where a de-facto independent republic was
proclaimed in 1992 after Armenian forces established control over the territory
and several districts surrounding it. As a result, Turkey also
severed ties with Armenia and
closed its border in solidarity with its ethnic kin, the Azeris. Armenia’s
relations with Turkey also
remain tense over the 1915 Armenian genocide, when nearly the entire Armenian
population of the Ottoman Empire, two million people,
was wiped out through massacres and deportations. Turkey still
denies the genocide despite historical evidence and international pressure to
acknowledge the crimes committed by its predecessors.
Given Iran’s
historic rivalry with Turkey and Russia for
influence in the Caucasus, its strained
relations with Azerbaijan over
that country’s rejection of an Islamic order, and its international isolation, Iran has
recently enhanced its economic, political and cultural relations with Armenia.
Additionally, northern Iran is
inhabited by over 15 million Azeris (double the population of the Republic of Azerbaijan),
driving Iran’s
concern of a potential secessionist movement. Wary of this threat, a weak Azerbaijan is in Iran’s best
interest and Armenia becomes
an important leverage point in this regard. Hence, we observe an unusual
international relations predicament in which the interests of an Islamic
republic coincide with those of a Christian state at the expense of another
Muslim country. In response, leaders of both Iran and Armenia are
quick to point out the historic relations between the two countries that span
several thousand years, as well as the presence of a substantial Armenian
community in Iran
numbering 150,000. Two seats in the Iranian Parliament are appointed for
Armenian representation and northern Iran, once a part of several Armenian
kingdoms, is also home to ancient Armenian monasteries designated as UNESCO
World Heritage Sites that enjoy national and international protection – in
stark contrast to some three thousand Armenian churches in Turkey that fell
victim to cultural destruction during and after 1915.
Ultimately, for Armenia,
embracing Iran becomes
a matter of basic survival, and for Iran, tiny Armenia becomes
an outlet for global reconnection and a means to put pressure on Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, Armenia has made
it clear that this relationship does not come at the expense of its relations
with the West or Russia. Russia remains Armenia’s
strategic ally and Armenia has very
warm and developing relations with the United
States and the EU. Large
and influential Armenian Diaspora communities, particularly in the United
States and France, become
an important bridge between their ancestral and adopted homelands and act as
catalysts for Westernization. Over the years, Armenia has
espoused a policy of European orientation and integration and hopes to become
an EU member in time. As a means of engaging regional and global powers without
having to “pick and choose” alliances, Armenia has
carefully crafted a policy of “complementarity” to survive and navigate
difficult geopolitical terrain.
Last year marked the apex of Iranian-Armenian
relations when the two countries embarked on important economic projects,
including the construction of a hydro-electric plant on their shared border—a
welcome development for energy-hungry Armenia. There
are talks now of constructing an ambitious railway system and an oil pipeline
between the two countries. Both projects could eventually be extended to Europe through Georgia, which
will help alleviate Armenia’s
isolation in the region. American tolerance of these growing ties still remains
to be seen. Thus far, the United
States has been cautious
but largely understanding; however this could change in the future.
To assist Armenia in
expanding its options in the region, the Obama administration must put pressure
on Turkey to open
its border with Armenia
immediately and without preconditions. This would ensure Armenia’s access
to Europe and beyond through
Turkish territory. The United States should
also enhance its efforts in bringing forth a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict peacefully and resolutely. Furthermore, the United States should assist Armenian integration in regional economic and transportation projects and to energize
U.S.-Armenia economic relations via a bilateral Trade and Investment Framework
Agreement. The United States will
thus help Armenia reduce
its dependence on Iran by
ensuring the country’s integration with the West. Armenia and its
people want no less and need American and European assistance to achieve this
objective. Otherwise, Armenia will
have no choice but to continue looking to Iran.
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
March 7th, 2013
