After decades of post-Soviet troubles, the Caucasian nation is positioning itself as the region’s “crossroads of peace.”

Editor’s Note: On September 7, Center for the National Interest Senior Fellow Andrew Kuchins interviewed the ambassador of the Republic of Armenia, Narek Mkrtchyan, to discuss the 35th anniversary of Armenian independence from the Soviet Union, the state of US-Armenian relations, and the future prospects of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. The following conversation has been edited for style and clarity.

Andrew Kuchins (AK): Thank you, Mr. Ambassador, for agreeing to speak with me today, which coincidentally marks the first anniversary of your arrival in Washington to represent Armenia. Congratulations! Allow me also to congratulate you in advance on Armenia’s upcoming 35th anniversary of independence, to be celebrated on September 21. Perhaps you could discuss the significance of this anniversary for Armenia and a bit of your own personal perspective, as you were quite young when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Narek Mkrtchyan (NM): Thank you very much for the congratulations on both counts. This 35th anniversary is not just a celebration, but an essential part of our national narrative. Thirty-five years ago, our people chose the path of sovereignty and independence. I can say this path has not been easy: the 1988 earthquake and its consequences, the two wars with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, internal turmoil, terrorist attacks on the parliament, corruption—but at the same time we have managed to build our democracy and overcome all these difficulties. 

Now I can say we are one of the more successful economies of the region. And this is a testament to the dedication of all the people who believed in the future of an independent Armenia. Armenians understand there is no easy way; we must work consistently and with dedication to develop our nation.

For me, I was only 2 years old when the Soviet Union collapsed; my personal story is closely tied to the development of independent Armenia. My generation has witnessed these dramatic events, which contributed to the country’s transformation. It has given us the belief that we can make a real difference in an independent Armenia. These 35 years have taught us a lesson: sovereignty and independence are not a gift, but something that must be protected and developed every day.

One of the landmarks in this process was the revolution of 2018, when young activists and politicians, many of my generation, decided no longer to tolerate unjust practices in many of our institutions, corruption in core institutions, and that we need to fight to bring real democracy and genuinely independent institutions that serve the people of Armenia rather than just a few. This was not easy, but we managed to carry out a non-violent “velvet” and democratic revolution. But this was not a so-called “color revolution” because there were no foreign forces behind it, just the citizens of Armenia. 

Now we are very careful about our institutions and ensuring that democracy is always the first priority. And part of this sovereignty is to ensure that we are an independent actor in international relations. We now have many key partners who trust Armenia, and we build our mutual relations on trust and the rule of law. We are especially proud to count on the United States as one of our key partners.

AK: I am glad you raised the 2018 revolution because it is important that our readers understand its significance. So in the year since you arrived here in Washington as ambassador, it has been a remarkable time in Armenian-US relations; I would say the most remarkable in the last 35 years, including the first visit of a sitting vice president, JD Vance, to Armenia. What do you view as the most significant achievements?

NM: You are right, this has been an extraordinary year of dramatic change in Armenia-US relations. Our ties have become much deeper, especially in pragmatic economic cooperation with mutual benefits for both countries. And this only became possible after the historic Washington Declaration on August 8, when President Donald Trump brokered peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, bringing to a conclusion a war that actually started in late Soviet times, more than 35 years ago.

The Armenian people will be eternally grateful to President Trump for his efforts to bring peace. This genuinely marked the dawning of a new era for Armenia to be a crossroads of peace in a long-conflicted region. With this, the door opened for much deeper economic cooperation, and we signed MOUs with Washington on semiconductors, AI, transit, energy, capacity-building, critical minerals, and rare earths. Armenia can now serve as a crossroads for peace, including commerce, investment, people-to-people ties, and now, of course, our goal is to deepen and broaden these ties with Washington as well as with many other international actors.

And then with the visit of Vice President JD Vance, we were able to build on this foundation, notably in high technology. US tech giant Nvidia, along with Firebird, has agreed with us to build a $4 billion facility to build the highest quality chips for AI applications, and the Department of Commerce has supported this path-breaking deal. The same FirebirdAI company and Nvidia recently agreed with Kazakhstan to build a $10 billion facility. Very few countries in the world are allowed this level of cooperation with the United States. This is a long process, but last year in October, only two months after the White House MOU on AI and Semiconductor Innovation Partnership, we got the approval.

We are very grateful to our private and public sector partners in the United States who make this and other deals possible. It is a very positive sign of what is possible to do in Armenia, a country short on natural resources but deep in human capital. The Nvidia deal can ultimately make Armenia the fifth-largest country on a per-capita computing basis. And this is one of the ways that the American people can benefit from Armenia, whether they are from South Texas, Alabama, or any state of the union. Another area of cooperation is drone production and military technologies that benefit both countries. So the vice president’s visit was not only of symbolic importance; some of the agreements from it really amount to game-changers for bilateral relations.

This is a very new reality in the relationship we are building. We are very grateful for all of the support from the United States over these 35 years for democracy and its generous economic assistance, but this is a new era when the focus will be on trade, not aid. The partnership will really be a two-way street, a genuine win-win arrangement. Armenia has always benefited from a large, well-organized diaspora community in the United States, but this relationship is also transforming. Armenia’s greatest resource is human capital, and the diaspora understands this well. The diaspora is also altering its perception of its brothers and sisters in Armenia, so that rather than being primarily a source of economic and humanitarian assistance, successful Armenian entrepreneurs in the United States can build mutually beneficial partnerships with their homeland. It is a new paradigm.

One of the institutions supported by the US diaspora community that I personally benefited from was the establishment of the American University of Armenia, which also dates back to the last days of the Soviet Union. This institution, initiated and consistently supported by the US diaspora community, has been remarkably successful. The initial idea was to prepare new generations to lead Armenia’s public and private sectors, as well as civil society. But now the framework is shifting to one of partnership and mutual benefit. Armenia is no longer just a place the diaspora can make richer; Armenia can also make you, our partners in America, richer. You can go to Armenia, you can do business with Armenia, you can invest in Armenian companies, and vice versa, and everybody benefits. These new businesses and partnerships can really bring our two countries closer together in new ways.

AK: Armenia is a beautiful country. I had the good fortune to visit in 2014, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranged a fantastic set of high-level meetings for me with government officials, businesspeople, and leading civil society figures. I wrote a country study of Armenia for a larger project called “Eurasia Reconnecting.” At that time, of course, the war with Azerbaijan was still going on, and the country reminded me of Israel, which feels constantly under an existential security threat. I want to ask you about your big northern near neighbor, Russia, as it was announced today that President Nikol Pashinyan would be traveling to Moscow to see Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the year, and Russian presidential spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, said rather ominously that the meeting was to discuss Armenia’s European and Eurasian “orientations.” President Pashinyan’s last meeting with Putin in Moscow in May was very tense, but your president very much held his own. I saw a quote from you that Armenia seeks to “diversify” its partners, but not “break from Russia.” Could you elaborate on how Yerevan views this challenging relationship?

NM: Thank you for the question, and you are right that we are in a tough neighborhood. But this is our geography, and we have been in it for thousands of years. We see this as both an opportunity and a challenge, but if you address the challenge properly, it can quickly become an opportunity. That is why we do not want to consider that geography defines our destiny; it is not decisive for the future of our nation. Armenia must define its future and adapt its geography to our national interests. This is only possible with political will. We want to break stereotypes and change the narrative for a modern, sovereign Armenia. We want to change the perception of our region and Armenia’s role in it. For so long, it has been viewed as a region of eternal conflict where great powers and empires for hundreds of years have competed.

Currently, 80 percent of our borders are closed, so we have decided to talk and work with our neighbors, first Azerbaijan and Turkey, to rectify the situation. We initiated dialogues that we hope will soon lead to open borders, trade, transit, and open communication. Peace does not come overnight; it is a process of building trust and confidence among different layers of society. 

We have made a lot of progress, but we also understand that we need new partners to help with this process, and improved relations with Europe and the United States are extremely important. This is the essence of our diversification policy; it is not directed against anybody—not Russia, not Iran, not anybody. While we are diversifying our security, defense, procurement of military goods, supply chains, and trade, this is about strengthening our sovereignty and independence. Now we understand that some countries may be unhappy about this, but what we are doing is not against any country. 

A major piece of our strategy is to bring Armenia and the whole South Caucasus region closer to Central Asia and Europe, to serve as a bridge of connectivity in the flow of goods, technology, and investment between East and West as well as North and South. This is what we call the “Crossroads of Peace.” This is something we are always communicating to our Russian colleagues since the notion of Armenia as a crossroads is mainly about commerce and prosperity for all peoples. One can participate in projects attached to this goal, but there are certain rules of the game that we uphold to protect our sovereignty and interests. Our prime minister’s engagement with Russia has always been and will be steeped in mutual respect. We have our bilateral agenda with Russia, and it is an important partner, an essential partner for Armenia. But at the same time, our people and our government have decided that diversification of partners is in the national interests of Armenia.

AK: Speaking of connectivity, I wanted to ask you to talk about TRIPP, the Trump Route of International Peace and Prosperity, that was agreed to in Washington also this past year. For a landlocked country like Armenia, transit corridors to global markets are the lifeblood. I read a marvelous quote of yours that “…without TRIPP, the conversation about peace would be impossible.” I have also read that Washington has already approved more than $200 million to support this project.

NM: Thank you for the question. When you look into the concepts of various political scientists and scholars on peace processes, we find a common trait: that economic relations and infrastructural connectivity projects are a major factor for sustained peace. When I mentioned there would be no peace prospects without TRIPP, it really was mainly about the importance of connectivity, including between people. Customs control, emergency situations, security, and other aspects of TRIPP will be controlled by Armenian institutions under Armenian jurisdiction. The TRIPP development company will be co-owned by the Armenian and US governments, with 74 percent of the shares controlled by the United States and 26 percent of the shares controlled by Armenia. 

Last year, the State Department announced $145 million in support for TRIPP implementation. We have advanced the project considerably since the initial MOU and the implementation framework we signed in January this year. We then began negotiations with the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to finalize the financial component, and we registered the development company for it. Then, during Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Yerevan this year, we signed additional key documents, including an upgrade of the US-Armenia strategic partnership into a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Charter, an MOU on cooperation for the development of critical minerals, and the TRIPP agreement. 

We hope the feasibility study for TRIPP will be approved in October, with groundbreaking in January/February 2027. Regarding the $200+ million investment, the State Department has created a parallel tool, like an enterprise fund. The fund will facilitate investments not only in Armenia, but across Central Asia to Europe for projects related to TRIPP. We would like to expand the project across the Southern Caucasus, solidifying the Western end of the Middle Corridor. So we see the $200 million as just the start of this ambitious and important project.

AK: Ambassador, you have been very generous with your time, but I would like to ask you one last question of more of a personal nature. I noticed that you are a graduate and later faculty member of the American University of Armenia (AUA). I am familiar with the institution, as I served for nearly three years as president of the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. This was an important life decision for you, and I am wondering how you came to it and how it has helped prepare you for the role you have now.

NM: Oh, I did not know you were in Bishkek with AUCA. When I was a student at the American University of Armenia, and afterward, I was involved in a project with AUCA and Norway on the Eurasian Economic Union. AUA, like AUCA, supports a curriculum based on US higher education institutions, and AUA awards degrees in Armenia that are accepted in the United States because of its accreditation by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the USA. 

I taught the history of Armenia for approximately 10 years at AUA. Of course, this education and teaching experience were formative to my intellectual development. I see AUA as the most successful and influential project supported by the Armenian diaspora community; many of the diaspora’s best minds have been involved with the university in both teaching and administrative capacities. 

These connections, and the training of more than 6000 graduates over more than 35 years, have made tremendous contributions to modern Armenia. I began my graduate studies at AUA in 2011, and I was honored to join the faculty in 2015 to develop the Armenian history program. English-language training is a key priority at the University, and Armenians of my generation speak better English than Russian. But, of course, the Armenian language remains and always will be at the heart of our cultural heritage. And since these roots date back nearly 2000 years, they are entrenched in our cultural life—even centuries of many other hegemonic influences, including Persian, Ottoman, Russian, or Soviet, could not fundamentally alter this enduring identity, which is now sourced from the idea of the eternal Republic of Armenia. 

AK: Thank you again, Mr. Ambassador, for your time and thoughts that I know will be of great interest to the readers of The National Interest. 

About the Participants: Narek Mkrtchyan and Andrew Kuchins

HE Narek Mkrtchyan is the ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the United States of America. Before his appointment to this post, he served as the minister of labor and social affairs from 2021 to 2025. 

Andrew C. Kuchins is a senior fellow at the Center for the National Interest and an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He has served as president of the American University of Central Asia.

The post Armenia at 35 Years of Independence appeared first on The National Interest.