Will Georgia’s role in region be pushed into background? International relations expert’s view

Georgia, as a major transit country, will maintain its position in the medium term—about 5–10 years—and no radical changes are expected, international relations expert Andranik Hovhannisyan said in an interview with Alpha News, commenting on former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s remark that Azerbaijani President Aliyev’s statement—“today transit routes pass through Georgia, but tomorrow they will pass through Armenia”—destroys everything Georgia had achieved.

“Georgia’s opposition is trying to frame the situation from a domestic political perspective in order to influence the public and put pressure on the authorities, but objectively the situation has not changed,” said Hovhannisyan, emphasizing that the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the opening of roads could strengthen Armenia as a transit country. At the same time, according to him, this process may somewhat reduce Georgia’s former influence in the region.

Addressing US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to the South Caucasus and the Georgian President’s statement that the visit was dedicated to the Zangezur transport corridor, Hovhannisyan noted: “Naturally, the addressees of this process should be Azerbaijan and Armenia, while Georgia is only in the role of an observer and can influence decisions.”