“Although Armenia was initially opposed to the ‘Zangezur Corridor,’ it is now taking a more flexible approach to participating in economic integration,” Turkish news agencies quoted him saying.
Erdogan reaffirmed Turkey’s strong support for the extraterritorial corridor that would pass through a key Armenian region, Syunik, saying that it would be part of a “not only geopolitical but also geo-economic revolution” in the wider region.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met with Erdogan in Istanbul late last month amid Armenian opposition and media suggestions that he could make far-reaching concessions on the issue. Pashinian stoked that speculation with his comments made ahead of the talks. Speaking with members of Turkey’s Armenian community, he said Baku will describe a road and a railway to Nakhichevan as a “corridor” even if they are fully controlled by Armenia.
Some of Pashinian’s domestic critics portrayed Erdogan’s remarks as further proof that Yerevan is ready to accept the Turkish-Azerbaijani demands.
Commenting on Erdogan’s statement, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said Armenia continues to stand by its Crossroads of Peace project calling for full Armenian control over the transport links for Nakhichevan. The ministry spokeswoman, Ani Badalian, said Yerevan has also come up with “certain ideas, solutions, and constructive suggestions congruent with that.” She did not disclose them.
“Armenia has never made and will not make concessions,” Artur Hovannisian, a senior member of the ruling Civil Contract’s parliamentary group, insisted on Monday.
Opposition lawmakers dismissed these assurances.
“For quite a while, we have witnessed vicious situations where we first heard from Baku or Ankara about some agreement … which the Armenian government presented, after some delay, to our people as a fait accompli,” said Gegham Manukian of the Hayastan alliance. “We are very concerned that we are now dealing with the same situation.”
“When the Armenian authorities say one thing, very often the opposite happens,” Tigran Abrahamian, another opposition lawmaker, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Abrahamian said that Pashinian’s administration put Armenia in an even worse position by refusing any impartial third-party mediation of negotiations with Azerbaijan and making Turkey part of the process instead.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly proposed in late May that Armenian border and customs checks for the transit of people and cargo to and from Nakhichevan be outsourced to an American company. The Foreign Ministry in Yerevan has not denied that.
Syunik is the sole Armenian region bordering Iran. Hence, Tehran’s strong opposition to the corridor sought by Baku.
