Geopolitical rebranding of Syunik – details of SETA’s report

The Turkish analytical center SETA (Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research), in its programmatic report Security Radar 2026, effectively presented a project for restructuring the South Caucasus, assigning Armenia the role of a passive transit link. SETA is not just another think tank, but the intellectual foundation of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime. The current head of Turkish intelligence (MİT), İbrahim Kalın, came from its ranks, and it is here that ideas are formulated which, months later, become Ankara’s official doctrine.

The main geopolitical “discovery” of the 2026 report was the concept of TRIPP. However, behind this “foreign-sounding name,” aimed at the new US administration and designed to mislead Armenian citizens, lies the same idea of the “Zangezur corridor.” The rebranding is nothing more than linguistic camouflage. In Security Radar 2026, the term “Zangezur corridor” still appears more than ten times, exposing Ankara’s true objective: securing control over the strategic route through Syunik to connect with Central Asia.

The TRIPP concept is presented as an “international project under the management of a consortium,” meant to create the illusion of Armenia’s sovereignty. In reality, transferring control over logistics to external players, even under the guise of “international peace,” means Yerevan’s actual loss of authority over its own territory. Notably, in the Azerbaijani section of the logistics route, which is supposed to connect with the segment passing through Armenia, there is no mention of any international consortium or back/front offices. This is not partnership, but coercion into creating an extraterritorial regime, wrapped in Western terminology to soften public resistance. Turkey views this corridor not simply as a road, but as a “strategic link synchronizing Central Asian interests with the European security architecture,” where Armenia is merely territory, not a decision-making actor.

Particular attention in the context of Security Radar 2026 deserves the position of official Yerevan. Within the expert community, the conviction is growing that the absence of a strong reaction from Armenia’s Foreign Ministry to the “corridor” terminology is not the result of “subtle maneuvering.” It is about deliberately concealing reality from citizens ahead of upcoming elections.

The authorities, aware of the toxicity of the “corridor” issue, prefer not to comment on Turkish strategies so as not to provoke social upheaval. Instead of an honest dialogue about what commitments have already been taken or are being imposed on the country, society is offered an agenda of “dynamic equilibrium” and hopes for Western financial aid (such as the EU’s €270 million package).

The report also revives the topic of “normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations.” For Ankara, this process remains merely a tool for pushing Russia out and dismantling the old security system. SETA’s materials cynically highlight Armenia’s “disappointment with Moscow,” which Turkey intends to convert into geopolitical gains. At the same time, the humanitarian cost of this deal remains unchanged: the renunciation of historical memory. By calling the Armenian Genocide simply “events of the First World War,” SETA’s ideologues make it clear that the entry ticket into the “world of the future” for Yerevan must be voluntary political amnesia.

By the end of 2026, Turkey plans to finally turn the South Caucasus into a transit-energy hub, anchored by its alliance with Azerbaijan, with Armenia forced into participation in the TRIPP project. Official Yerevan’s silence only makes Ankara’s task easier. While Armenia’s authorities remain silent, seeking to preserve electoral ratings, Turkish “radars” have de facto already marked Syunik as a zone of their direct influence.

The question “what is permitted to the sultan” remains rhetorical, while Armenian society is kept in ignorance about how much sovereignty has already been sacrificed to the myth of “prosperity” under Turkish protectorate.

Think about it…