Iran is strongly against any corridor that would pass through the territory of Armenia – Andranik Hovhannisyan

Iran is strongly against any corridor that would pass through the territory of Armenia, foreign affairs expert Andranik Hovhannisyan told Alpha News.

“Today, Iran plays a very important role in the region, both in the context of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and in terms of the events taking place in the Caucasus region as a whole. Here we can say that the words of the Iranian consul—and before that, the ambassador—indicate that Iran is strongly against any road that would pass through the territory of Armenia as a corridor. This is a project that Turkey and Azerbaijan, and some forces supporting them, want to implement. In my opinion, the recent words of the Iranian consul refer specifically to these forces.

One of such forces could be, for example, Great Britain. It is also interested in having a corridor in the Caucasus region, which would first connect Turkey with Azerbaijan, and then the entire Turkic world with each other, which could later be used as a factor against Russia, Iran and China,” Hovhannisyan said.

According to the expert, not a single official from Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan even mentions that this corridor should pass through Armenia.

“Neither Azerbaijan nor Turkey use the term ‘Zangezur corridor’, they call it the Turkic road, which will connect the entire Turkic world, starting from Turkey up to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Kazakhstan, like other Central Asian states, is interested in building new roads, and today the Caucasus region plays a very important role in the process of building these communications. We see what is happening in the relations between Russia and Ukraine, and, in fact, at the moment it is very difficult to travel through Eastern Europe.

The same thing applies to the South, since there are also many problems there. We can talk about Syria, there is also a sanctions regime around Iraq and Iran, and the only road from Central Asia to Europe passes through the Caucasus region, and the main road passes through the territories of Azerbaijan and Georgia. It should also be noted that none of the officials of Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan say that this corridor should pass through Armenia. That is, the officials of Kazakhstan do not think there should be a corridor,” Hovhannisyan concluded.