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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.
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