The Syunik region will become the cradle of multiple foreign actors’ competing interests, says Special Eurasia
France is formalizing a strategic partnership with Armenia, including military cooperation and positioning itself in Syunik—a region at the heart of competing geopolitical interests, Special Eurasia says.
As noted, Azerbaijan portrays Armenia’s Western alignment, particularly with France, as a threat, using media narratives to discredit peace efforts and justify escalatory rhetoric.
The Syunik region risks becoming a flashpoint as Iran opposes any territorial shifts, Russia reasserts cultural presence, and Europe and the US navigate ambiguous roles amid Armenian-Turkish-Azerbaijani tensions.
The website notes that on March 2, 2025, France opened an honorary consulate in the southern Armenian region of Syunik, in the city of Goris.
The publication states that with the opening of the consular office, France has become the second country to have a diplomatic presence in Syunik, following Iran’s launch of a consulate in the provincial capital Kapan in October 2022. While Russia also announced its intention to open a consulate in the town in 2023, there has been no progress in this regard so far.
Security concerns underpin the choice of Goris. France voiced its willingness to open a consulate in the Syunik border region after the Azerbaijani military offensive and ethnic cleansing of the Armenian inhabited Artsakh region. On one side, Paris provided economic aid to the tens of thousands forcibly displaced people who accommodated in the Syunik region, on the other, given the security challenges posed by Baku’s territorial claims regarding Armenian, French Ambassador Decottignies stressed that the French state, its society, and its organizations, remain on Armenia’s side.
While Moscow’s decision not to intervene during the military takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh served the Western narrative of Russia being an unreliable partner for Armenia, to push Yerevan into the European/US orbit, Azerbaijan exploited France closeness to the Christian Caucasian state to hamper the peace process. For several months, in fact, the Azerbaijani government has portrayed Armenia as an unreliable actor, citing its ongoing rearmament as a source of concern.
Concerningly, European inaction during Azerbaijan’s offensive and ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh and its failure to hold Baku accountable for human rights violations and Armenophobia raises some concern for Brussel’s willingness to prevent Azerbaijan from gaining the corridor with the force. While U.S. Secretary of State affirmed Washington was working to prevent Azerbaijan from invading Armenia, therefore admitting that US intelligence gathered evidences about such a possibility, Europe might benefit from the “Zangezur Corridor” through Armenia, as it will finally serve Brussels long pursued goal to connect Central Asia to Europe via Turkey.
The Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Khatibzadeh reiterated Tehran’s long-standing position that any initiative resulting in a change to the region’s geopolitical map is unacceptable, staunchly opposing the Baku-proposed corridor, which will cut the Iran-Armenia strategic territorial link.
“The Syunik region will become the cradle of multiple foreign actors’ competing interests. While some unconfirmed sources reported meetings between Iranian and French representatives whose interests in the Southern Armenian regions currently align, on the other hand French exploit Armenian dissatisfaction with Russia to distance Moscow from Yerevan.
On one side, this might pressure Armenia, forcing it to choose between Moscow and Western support. On the other side, Russia plans to open three additional branches of the Russian Science and Culture Centre (Rossotrudnichestvo) in Vanadzor, Ijevan, and Kapan, an expansion that builds upon the existing center in Gyumri, underscores that Moscow has not given up its partnership with Yerevan, and also regards the Syunik region as strategic.
France’s opening of an honorary consulate in Armenia’s Syunik region marks a strategic move deepening its defense, political, and cultural engagement in a geopolitically sensitive area, where Western influence, Iranian interests, and Russian competition converge amidst rising tensions with Azerbaijan,” the website concludes.
