Will Pashinyan hand railways to Turkey after taking them from Russia?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s political strategy over recent years has shown a consistent pattern: any systemic retreat from national interests or rupture of strategic ties is invariably justified by appeals to the “international community” or recommendations from “foreign partners.” This approach has become a political alibi, allowing him to shift responsibility for fundamental losses onto external forces that supposedly dictate Armenia’s only possible survival rules.

The most striking and tragic example came in April 2022, when Pashinyan told parliament: “Today the international community is once again telling us: lower your expectations a little regarding the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, and you will secure greater international consolidation around Armenia and Artsakh.”

Armenian society was persuaded that this compromise would be the key to security. Yet the outcome of “lowering the bar” and the promised “consolidation” was the complete loss of Artsakh, ethnic cleansing, and the collapse of the long-standing architecture of regional stability. Instead of revising this destructive approach, we now see it being expanded into other spheres of state sovereignty.

In January 2026, Pashinyan applied the same logic to military-technical cooperation, claiming that Armenia’s membership in the CSTO had blocked the development of the national army. Thus, dismantling allied obligations was again presented not as Yerevan’s political choice, but as a forced step toward hypothetical suppliers who remain promises rather than realities.

Today, the same manipulative scheme is unfolding around transport infrastructure. In a recent interview with Public Television of Armenia, Pashinyan insisted that the country is losing competitive advantages because its railways are managed by Russia (referring to the South Caucasus Railway concession until 2038). He argued that in the current tense international climate, investors are reluctant to fund Armenian projects while Russia remains in control.

At the same time, Pashinyan calls for resolving the issue in a “friendly logic,” while hinting at the inevitability of revisiting agreements. As a successful alternative, he pointedly highlights the Azerbaijan–Turkey Kars–Dilucu project, which develops outside Russian influence.

It is increasingly clear that behind the mask of “international investors” concerned with logistics stand Ankara and Baku. For Turkey and Azerbaijan, Armenia’s economy holds little value; their goal is the complete elimination of the Russian factor, the last obstacle to absorbing Armenia and turning it into a transit appendage of the Turkic world. Pashinyan acts as the conduit of this policy, packaging adversaries’ demands as “modern economic trends.” The symbolism is heightened by the fact that these theses were voiced immediately after US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Armenia—a signal to society of Washington’s direct support for this course.

The situation appears even more alarming in light of revelations by Steve Witkoff, special representative of Donald Trump, who stated that the U.S. relies on consultations with Turkish intelligence chiefs Hakan Fidan and Ibrahim Kalin in the Armenian–Azerbaijani process.

This means that the “architects” of reconciliation and new routes are figures whose mission is advancing Turkish expansion. It is in MiT offices that ideas like the “Trump Route” (TRIPP) are born—a rebranding of the notorious “Zangezur corridor.” This disguise allows Pashinyan to save face, presenting Turkey’s demand for an extraterritorial passage as an innovative American initiative.

Every appeal to “partners” heralds a new loss. If the price once was the territory of Artsakh, today the price of “competitiveness” is statehood itself. The prime minister’s attempt to lull allies with “friendly logic” only hastens the moment when Armenia dissolves into foreign geopolitical projects, reduced from a sovereign actor to a 42-kilometer stretch of road whose fate Turkish intelligence carefully discusses with American diplomats.

Think about it…