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MANE BABAJANYAN Armenia’s willingness to join the Customs Union (CU) instead of signing the Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union (EU). 32 Sargsyan’s decision was probably forced by Armenia’s dependency on Russia both politically (Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkish blockade, and marginalization from regional projects) and economically (Russia’s presence in the economic and energy sectors, the oligarchy, monopolies). 33 Armenia officially became an EAEU member on January 2, 2015. 34 On the contrary, Georgia has been steadily moving toward integration into the EU. It signed the AA with EU in June 2014, which was later ratified by the Georgian and European Parliaments, as well as all the EU member states. The AA, which also included the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) covering the economic aspects of the partnership, fully came into force in July 2016. 35 As stated above, Armenia is also a member of another Russia-led post-Soviet organization, CIS, whereas Georgia withdrew from it in 2008 as a result of the Russo-Georgian war. 36 Some authors claim that several post-Soviet countries that have been following a Western path for their development (i.e. Georgia) are participating in opposing organizations, such as GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova). 37 Finally, the most challenging difference in the foreign policy of Armenia and Georgia are in their relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan. Armenia’s attitude toward Turkey has historically been shaped through the prism of Armenian Genocide and Turkey’s refusal to recognize it. 38 Since April 1993, Armenian-Turkish 300 kilometers-long border has                                                              32 Richard R. Giragosian, “Armenia’s Strategic U-Turn”. European Council on Foreign Relations, London, (2014), 1, https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/179381/ECFR99_ARMENIA_MEMO_AW.pdf. 33 Vahram Ter-Matevosyan, Anna Drnoian, et al. “Armenia in the Eurasian Economic Union: reasons for joining and its consequences”, Eurasian Geography and Economics 58, no. 3 (2017): 341. 34 “International Organisations: Eurasian Economic Union”, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, https://www.mfa.am/en/international-organisations/6. 35 “EU-Georgia Association Agreement”, European Union, Accessed: 13 Sep. 2016, https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/georgia_en/9740/EU/Georgia%20Association%20Agre ement. 36 “International Organisations: Commonwealth of Independent States”, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, https://www.mfa.am/en/international- organisations/2. 37 Konstantin Kurilev, K., et al. "A Quantitative Analysis of Geopolitical Pluralism in the Post-Soviet Space”. International Organisations Research Journal 13, no 1 (2018): 134-135. 38 Aleksandr Iskandaryan, “Armenia-Turkey: Divided by History, United by Geography” in Identities, Ideologies and Institutions: 2001-2011 A Decade of Insight Into the Caucasus, (Yerevan: Caucasus Institute, 2011): 180. 28