The recent international forum “Facing the New World Order,” held at ADA University in Baku, was more than a platform for academic discussion. It served as a stage for a direct and unambiguous articulation of geopolitical reality. In his keynote address, President Ilham Aliyev outlined a number of strategic positions—particularly concerning the emerging configuration of transregional transport corridors.
Azerbaijan, he noted, has signed strategic partnership declarations with numerous countries, establishing a platform that enables the country to serve as a political, economic, and logistical bridge between Central Asia and Europe. “So, this already established platform allows us to play an important role as a geographical, political, economic, and transportation bridge between the Central Asia region and Europe,” Aliyev said. “Planning long-term cooperation with that region, it’s only enough to look at the map to understand that Azerbaijan cannot be avoided.”
Aliyev addressed efforts within parts of Europe to marginalize Azerbaijan or artificially redraw regional alignments: “There are some in Europe, which would prefer to separate Azerbaijan not only from this process but also to build the dividing lines in the Caucasus, particularly in the Southern Caucasus. But these attempts will definitely not succeed.” He underscored that Azerbaijan’s close ties with Central Asia are not only geographical but deeply political, economic, and cultural.
President Aliyev also detailed the substantial infrastructure investments that Azerbaijan has made to support east-west transit: “Large investments in Azerbaijan’s transportation infrastructure, particularly the seaport, shipbuilding factory, railroad facilities, and other logistical infrastructure we created today are instrumental… and we see a growing number of cargo going through Azerbaijan, not only from Central Asia but also from China and from Europe to China.”
Critically, Aliyev questioned recent statements made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the EU–Central Asia Summit in Uzbekistan, in which she implied that opening borders between Armenia and its neighbors would enable a viable Middle Corridor. “That was very strange, because this corridor exists, and Armenia plays no role in that… All that is ignored; they only want to open the border between Türkiye and Armenia, open the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. What does Europe have to do with that? It’s none of their business.”
He also called out the omission of Georgia from EU discourse: “There was not a single word about Georgia. As if Georgia did not exist. This is unfair, and the attitude towards Georgia’s internal process in the European Commission is absolutely unacceptable. This is the behavior of colonialists.” Aliyev reaffirmed that the internal political affairs of Georgia must be left to its own people and voiced strong support for closer Baku–Tbilisi alignment.
From a historical perspective, Aliyev pointed out that the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories derailed the South Caucasus’ chance to become an integrated region. “We had all the chances for that, but aggression, devastation, and the suffering of the Azerbaijani people did not allow that to happen. So, the South Caucasus was not integrated, though, from an economic point of view and from the point of view of transportation routes and, of course, energy security, that could have happened.” He contrasted this with Azerbaijan–Georgia cooperation: “If we look at the relationship between Azerbaijan and Georgia, we will see all those segments, which I just mentioned – energy security, transportation, political dialogue, investments, economic advantages.”
Armenia, President Aliyev stated, “actually deprived itself of that, and actually, as a result of occupation and aggression, deprived itself of becoming a transit country, important transit country for Azerbaijan’s energy resources and transportation routes.”
“And all the transit—whether it’s oil, gas, or cargo—from Azerbaijan goes through Georgia. So, Armenia could have been part of that process. It’s their fault that they miscalculated the future development and sacrificed their economic future, their real independence for this dream of ‘great Armenia’.”
Even today, Armenia appears to cling to this vision of geopolitical revisionism, at the expense of tangible opportunities to become part of Eurasia’s land-based transit network. The remaining question is whether European strategic plans will be taken down with it.
Brussels must recognize a basic truth: without Azerbaijan and Georgia, no sustainable transport or energy connectivity strategy between Europe and Central Asia can succeed. The sooner this reality is acknowledged, the more coherent and effective the EU’s Eurasian strategy will become.
“The leading countries of the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan and Georgia, of course, should take the main burden for cooperation. But of course, Armenia, when and if agrees to amend its constitution with respect to territorial claims against Azerbaijan can join the process, and we can think about future long-term predictable situation in our region.”
