Despite Justice Ministry Concerns, Constitutional Court Validates ‘Trump Route’

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—The Constitutional Court validated a U.S.-Armenian agreement to open a U.S.-run transit road for Azerbaijan through Armenia.

The framework agreement was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in early June. It lays out the key terms of the planned Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity that would run along Armenia’s border with Iran and connect Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan and Turkey.

The Constitutional Court concluded that they conform to the Armenian constitution just hours after it began examining the document on Tuesday morning. A court spokesperson told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday that the full text of the ruling will be made public within the next three days.

The U.S.-Armenia deal calls for the creation of a joint venture that will manage for at least 49 years a railway, a road, energy supply lines and other infrastructure to be built along the corridor. The U.S. government will own 74 percent of the TRIPP Development Company that will receive “exclusive land use rights, development rights, related permissions, and all other rights” necessary for the transit arrangement.

While upholding Armenia’s “full sovereignty and jurisdiction over its borders and customs operations,” the deal commits the Armenian government to the so-called “front office/back office” model whereby private operators hired by the TDC will provide “customer-facing services” at the border crossings with Azerbaijan. Armenian officials are to be given be a “back office” role there.

The Armenian Justice Ministry said in July that these modalities run counter to an Armenian law that makes border controls the exclusive prerogative of state bodies. In a written opinion submitted to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s cabinet, it also questioned the legality of tax exemptions to be granted to the TDC and its subsidiaries. Even so, the ministry recommended the agreement’s approval by the government, citing political reasons.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said last year that Azerbaijanis travelling to and from Nakhichevan “should not see the faces of Armenian border guards.” Pashinyan signaled readiness to meet that demand, saying that modern technology will be used to exclude physical contact between Armenian officers and Azerbaijani travelers. He thus gave more ammunition to his domestic critics who say that the TRIPP amounts to the kind of an extraterritorial “Zangezur corridor” that is sought by Baku.

Iran is also opposed to the TRIPP, fearing that the transit arrangement could lead to U.S. security presence along the Armenian-Iranian border and undermine Armenian control of it. The Iranian ambassador to Armenia indicated on July 8 that Yerevan has still not addressed Tehran’s “very legitimate and logical” concerns.