The joint Turkish–Azeri blockade of Armenia is an ongoing transportation and economic embargo against Armenia which has significantly impacted its economy and the regional trade dynamics of the Caucasus. The blockade was initiated in 1989 by Azerbaijan, originally in response to the Karabakh movement which called for independence from Azerbaijan and reunification with Armenia. Turkey later joined the blockade against Armenia in 1993. The blockade aims at isolating Armenia (and Nagorno-Karabakh until 2023) to pressure the Armenian side to make concessions: namely, the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan's favor, the cessation of Armenia's pursuit of international recognition of Turkey's genocide in Western Armenia, the ratification by Armenia of the 1921 borders inherited from the Kemalist-Soviet Treaty of Kars, and the establishment of an extraterritorial corridor through Armenian territory.
This dual blockade led to acute shortages of essential goods, an energy crisis, unemployment, emigration, ecological damage, and widespread poverty in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, while also hindering economic development and international trade. The blockade prevents the movement of supplies and people between Armenia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan and has isolated the Armenian side for 30 years; however, with the exception of the Kars-Gyumri railway crossing, the Turkish–Armenian border had already been closed since the 1920s and is sometimes described as the last vestige of the Iron Curtain. Despite the initial devastating effects of the blockade, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh were dubbed the "Caucasian Tiger," for their significant economic growth, particularly in the early 2000s; however, poverty remains widespread in Armenia with economic growth remaining heavily reliant on external investments.
Between 2022 and 2023, Azerbaijan escalated its blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by closing the Lachin corridor using a military checkpoint, sabotaging civilian infrastructure, and attacking agricultural workers. The ten-month-long military siege of the region isolated it from the outside world and produced a humanitarian crisis that was widely considered to be genocidal by experts and human rights advocates. In 2023, Azerbaijan used military force to take control over Nagorno-Karabakh and expel the entire population to Armenia.
Despite international pressure to lift the blockade, and Azerbaijan's military resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey and Azerbaijan continue to keep their borders closed to Armenia. With these two countries accounting for half of Armenia's four neighbors, 84% of Armenia's international borders remain closed, making the landlocked country extremely dependent on Russia and limited trade with Georgia and Iran.
Timeline
1989
- Azerbaijan initiates a rail blockade in response to the Karabakh movement, cutting off food and fuel deliveries to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
1990
- January – Anti-Armenian violence in Azerbaijan escalates, resulting in pogroms in Sumgait, Baku, and elsewhere, and Azerbaijan imposes the blockade on all of Armenia.
1992
- Armenian militia of Nagorno-Karabakh capture Lachin during the Karabakh Movement and ensuing First Nagorno-Karabakh War, ending a three-year isolation and establishing a humanitarian corridor to Armenia.
- U.S. Congress passes Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, prohibiting direct aid to Azerbaijan until the blockade is lifted.
1993
- April – Turkey joins Azerbaijan in the blockade, closing its airspace to Armenia as well as its land border and stationed troops on the Armenia-Turkey border.
- July – Azeri saboteurs repeatedly bomb gas pipelines supplying Armenia through Georgia, exacerbating the crisis.
1994
- The blockade forces Armenia to reconsider restarting the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant despite safety concerns due to the energy crisis.
1995
- Under U.S. pressure, Turkey resumes air transit for humanitarian aid to Armenia but keeps its land border closed.
2008
- The Russo-Georgian War disrupts Armenia's primary trade route through Georgia, worsening the impact of the blockade.
2022
- Azerbaijan escalates its blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by closing the Lachin Corridor using a military checkpoint, producing a humanitarian crisis in the Armenian enclave.
2023
- The Turkish–Armenian border is temporarily opened for the first time in 35 years to allow humanitarian aid from Armenia to earthquake victims in Turkey.
- Azerbaijan seizes Nagorno-Karabakh in a military operation, resulting in the flight of the entire population to Armenia proper.
- Armenia proposes the Crossroads of Peace project which aims to restore transportation links
2025
- The United States brokers the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), which involves an exclusive 99 year lease for an American-led consortium to mediate movement through a corridor on sovereign Armenian territory.
History
Azerbaijan started the blockade in September 1989 in response to the Karabakh movement which called for the reunification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.
The Azerbaijan Popular Front, later assisted by Azeri irregular militias and troops, initiated a rail blockade, cutting off food and fuel deliveries to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The blockade disrupted Armenia's economy and strained its resources, with significant impacts on everyday life and infrastructure, triggering a national emergency. The effects were made worse by the 1988 earthquake and the collapse of the internal trading system of the USSR. This initial action was compounded by anti-Armenian violence in Baku and Sumgait in January 1990. As the conflict intensified, Azerbaijan extended the blockade to all of Armenia, which relied heavily on imports that passed through Azerbaijani territory. Armenian fedayi subsequently raided arsenals and police stations in preparation to defend Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
In 1991, the population of Nagorno-Karabakh voted for independence in a referendum, resulting in Azerbaijan attempting to revoke its autonomy and sieging its capital for six months. In early 1992, Armenia and Iran signed a series of economic agreements, leading to the construction of a temporary bridge over the Arax River, which was considered a lifeline for Armenia, In May 1992, local Armenian militia in Nagorno-Karabakh captured Lachin, ending the region's complete 3-year-long isolation and established a humanitarian corridor to Armenia.
In 1992, the U.S. Congress passed legislation to pressure Azerbaijan to lift the blockade against Armenia. Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act prohibited direct government aid to the Azerbaijani government, until it "ceased all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh."
In the harsh winter of 1992, Turkey hesitantly agreed to ship wheat to Armenia promised from the European community but at a very slow pace and at exorbitant prices.
After many Byzantine tactics and several months of delay, Turkey finally agreed to send the 100,000 tons of wheat which the European community had promised to replace. After having humiliated the entire population of Armenia in bread queues, Turkey finally began to ship the wheat across the border in a very slow pace and to an extremely high price The transport of wheat, all the way from Russia to Armenia, cost only two dollars per ton, payable in deprecated rubles Turkey charged $56 per ton in hard currency Armenia was forced to empty its reserves of foreign currency in order to avoid a bread riot). There were many similar actions where Ankara forced the Armenian civil aircraft down on Turkish soil and delayed the humanitarian aid for several months.
— Historian Vahagn Avedian, in
Later in 1993, with the aim to assist Azerbaijan, Turkey joined Azerbaijan in imposing a land and air blockade on Armenia and stationed troops on the Armenian-Turkish border. That same year Azeri saboteurs exacerbated the crisis by repeatedly bombing the remaining gas pipelines supplying Armenia through Georgia and attacking Armenian locomotive crews. Georgia did not investigate these acts of terrorism and was believed to steal fuel destined for Armenia that came from Turkmenistan.
A second pipeline from Iran via Azerbaijan was also damaged in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and as of 2006 was still not operational. In 1991 pressure to restart the Metsamor power plant increased after a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan was severed due to the blockade. Local scientists originally condemned the decision to reopen the plant, describing it as a "potential Chernobyl."
Turkey also halted the air transit of foreign humanitarian aid and shipments destined towards Armenia but eventually changed this policy in 1995 due to pressure from the United States. In 1995, Armenia agreed to exclude genocide recognition to normalize Turkish–Armenian relations, if Turkey excluded Nagorno-Karabakh.
The 2008 Georgian-Russian War was a significant shock to the Armenian economy, as the country's foreign trade primarily relies on routes passing through Georgia due to the Azerbaijani-Turkish blockade. During the week-long Georgian-Russian war, the import of fuel and grain through Georgia into Armenia virtually stopped.
Between 2022 and 2023, Azerbaijan escalated its blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by closing the Lachin Corridor, resulting in the region's complete isolation from Armenia and the outside world. This isolation ended in 2023 when Azerbaijan seized the region during a military offensive, resulting in the flight of the entire population. The blockade of Armenia proper by Turkey and Azerbaijan continues to this day.
Aims and Impact
The governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan have demanded the following concessions for lifting the blockade;
- The resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan's favor,
- Armenia's withdrawal of international recognition of Turkey's genocide in Western Armenia,
- Armenia's ratification of the 1921 Turkish–Armenian borders it inherited from the Kemalist-Soviet Treaty of Kars,
- An extraterritorial corridor through Armenia.
Multiple sources, including human rights advocates and locals, have stated that the blockade aims to eliminate the remaining Armenian population in the Armenian Highlands. During the Armenian Genocide, Turkey also blockaded Armenia in 1918, preventing the influx of food supplies, leading to a famine and epidemics. Being a landlocked country, Armenia is very susceptible to blockades as a form of political coercion.
The ongoing blockade and the ensuing energy crisis led to large effects on Armenia's environment, economy and civil society. Donald Miller and Lorna Touryan state that Armenians were "reduced to living like their medieval ancestors" due to the deprivations imposed on society.
Humanitarian impact
The blockade had a devastating humanitarian impact on Armenia, exacerbating the effects of the 1988 earthquake and leading to severe shortages in essential supplies. By 1993, an estimated 90–95% of the population was living below the poverty line. Hospitals struggled to function due to acute shortages of electricity, heat, and medical supplies, which led to many ceasing operations. Bread was rationed daily to 200-250 grams per person. The decline in living standards led to between 17% and 30% of Armenia's population emigrating.
Public transportation ceased or became prohibitively expensive and schools were closed. Electricity in Yerevan was available for only two hours a day, which raised the risk of freezing or starvation. Trees on hospital grounds were cut in order to provide wood for burning to keeping hospitals warm. By 1993, over half of the hospitals in Armenia had stopped operating because they lacked essential resources, leading to the deaths of healthy infants due to the cold and inadequate equipment.
The medical crisis worsened, with supplies of basic items like surgical gloves, syringes, and chlorine for water purification becoming unreliable by 1992. This vulnerability particularly affected the elderly and newborns, causing rapid declines in the level of medical care. The blockade disrupted earthquake reconstruction efforts and further impoverished Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan, highlighting the critical role of humanitarian aid, primarily from the United States, in Armenia's survival during the early 1990s.
The blockade substantially increases actual travel distances and transportation costs. For instance, the journey from Yerevan to the Turkish border town of Igdir is extended tenfold because traffic must detour through Georgia due to the closed border.
Impact on Armenia's civil society
The historian Peter Rutland states, "The need to unify and protect the Armenian nation was the driving force that persuaded diverse social groups within Armenia to sink their differences and cooperate against the common foe. However, this consensus came at a huge price: years of economic blockade and armed struggle. There is a great danger that the strains arising from the conflict with Azerbaijan will undermine the fragile consensus that launched Armenian democracy."
Alla Mirzoyan states that "The damage caused by the blockade is both material and psychological", noting that it has created a siege mentality, and reinforces the historical narrative of joint Turkish–Azeri policy to isolate Armenia. Multiple sources consider the blockade to be a violation of the Treaty of Kars, which calls for "free transit of persons and commodities without any hindrance" among the signatories and that the parties would take "all the measures necessary to maintain and develop as quickly as possible railway, telegraphic, and other communications." David Davidian, a journalist and lecturer, states that the blockade of Armenia constitutes "a two decades long violation of the Treaty of Kars by half of its signatories."