Georgia has rapidly joined the settlement of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations

Georgia maintained an open neutrality in the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia during 28 years of the Armenian occupation of Karabakh, the war of 2020 and until June this year. This accounts for Tbilisi's ban on using its territory for transportation of weapons to Armenia.

It is surprising that official Tbilisi unexpectedly took part in the extradition of 15 Armenian saboteurs in exchange for maps of minefields in the Agdam region of Azerbaijan. In an official statement, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry expressed gratitude to the United States, the CE, the OSCE and Georgia.

The transfer of 15 Armenian citizens took place on the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia with the participation of representatives of the Georgian authorities on the evening of June 12.

"Georgia is proud of the role it played together with the United States in concluding an agreement on the transfer of Armenian military servicemen from Baku to Yerevan," Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili noted.

According to the Georgian government, the agreement was made possible with active assistance of Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker.

Garibashvili revealed hitherto unknown nuances of secret negotiations. The peculiarity of the process was Russia's non-participation therein. According to the Georgian Prime Minister, the talks began a month ago, after Garibashvili had telephone talks with Azerbaijani President Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan. Garibashvili added that this was an unprecedented case of Georgian mediation with the involvement of strategic partners in the South Caucasus. Also, leaders of the neighboring states held talks with Garibashvili in "around the clock" mode.

It should be borne in mind that Georgia is interested in continuing its mediation mission to achieve greater stability in the South Caucasus. Garibashvili's statement is interesting from connection of recent events and prospects of the region standpoint. "We express our readiness for Georgia to continue playing its role of mediator in the relations of the neighboring states. I have underscored my stand when contacting with the leaders of neighboring states. I hope that this process will continue in the name of achieving peace and stability in the region and creating the basis for implementation of many strategic projects."

Geli Vasadze, a political scientist at the Georgian Center for Strategic Analysis, draws attention to Turkey's role as an important actor in the conclusion of this agreement. It is obvious, he stressed since Prime Minister Garibashvili visited not only Baku and Yerevan but Ankara as well. According to Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, after talks with Turkish President Erdogan it was stated that Georgia should more actively play a role of mediator in the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations." The political analyst is prone to assess the process as testimony to the intensification of the US and the EU' role in the Caucasus.

Conflict analyst Giorgi Kanashvili is also convinced that in future Georgia can play its role in the settlement of relations between its neighbors.

"At the same time, Georgia should have no illusions – we exert no greater influence on any of the parties. However, small positive developments stated above will have a positive impact on both Georgian-Armenian and Georgian-Azerbaijani relations, as well as on the country's image," the expert wrote on his Facebook page.

The intensification of Georgia together with Turkey caused indignation in the nationalist circles of Armenia. They have long and persistently "guided" Georgians toward the Armenian concept of understanding Turkey's role in the Caucasian events. "A careful warning" to Georgians is often repeated: beware, the Turks are taking Georgia into their own hands!

However, the Georgian leadership pursues its own pragmatic policy aimed at removing Russia from intra-Caucasian processes. Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani believes that the visit of the Georgian Prime Minister to Ankara is indicative of the fact that Turkey is not a mere neighbor for Georgia but a serious partner as well:

"A visit at such a high level shows how serious partner Turkey is for us and at what high level of cooperation between our countries is."

Tbilisi opines that Turkey has returned to the South Caucasus not only economically but militarily as well. Under the security in the region from Turkey's involvement standpoint is meant a counterbalance to the Russian presence. From this point of view, Tbilisi is quite predictably trying to enlist the support of Ankara, - writes Vladimir Unanyants in the "Echo of the Caucasus".

There is no doubt that Georgia has actively entered into the process of settling Azerbaijani-Armenian relations. In so doing, official Tbilisi is acting in tandem with Ankara. They have room to work together. As is known, according to the Armenian side, there are 200 more Armenian citizens still kept in Azerbaijan.-0-