Sergey Melkonyan: I believe control over the interstate border will be entrusted to Western organizations

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safaryan said earlier that control over the road connecting Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan via Syunik could be transferred to a private security company. Alpha News spoke with Sergey Melkonyan, a research fellow at the APRI Armenia and an expert on foreign affairs, on this topic.

“As far as we are all aware, the issue is that the negotiations do not cover all communications between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The ‘Zangezur corridor’, that is, the land communication between the occupied Artsakh and Nakhichevan, is extremely important for Azerbaijan, and this is the first issue on the agenda. Now, when Armenia officially rejects the ‘Zangezur corridor’ agenda and this position is supported by Iran, which weekly notes that the transformation and revision of borders are a red line, they are trying to find a new formula.

The possibility of granting control over the corridor to a private international organization is currently under discussion. This means that the security aspect, which is most important to us, will remain outside Armenia’s control, and therefore, with the help of this component, we can call the communication a corridor,” Melkonyan noted.

According to the expert, control over the interstate border will be entrusted to Western organizations.

“I have not yet encountered such cases when the security of the interstate border is taken over by some international private organization. Such cases may exist, but they are not acceptable in the difficult situation we are in, when Azerbaijan decided to occupy not only the south of Syunik, but also the territory of the whole of Armenia in parts. In this sense, entrusting security to another force that you do not know is risky. What could be the consequences if it does not fulfill its duties? So, it should be noted that, to put it mildly, this is not the best solution for Armenia.

In my opinion, this mission will be entrusted to Western organizations and will receive some status in Armenia. And the people of Armenia will be told that this has nothing to do with any state and is independent,” Melkonyan concluded.