So-called Zangezur corridor has six interested parties, expert says

Professor of the Department of the Theory and Practice of Business-Government Interaction at the Russian HSE University Marat Bashirov commented to Alpha News on Turkiye’s statement about the so-called “Zangezur corridor”.

“There are six parties that are interested in the so-called Zangezur corridor. It is worth noting that this is, first of all, a road railway that actually connects Iran with Turkiye with the participation of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Therefore, in addition to Armenia and Azerbaijan, the interested parties are Turkiye, Russia, China, and Iran.

Accordingly, such transport corridors as East-West and North-South, which today have been declared a strategic task of China and Russia, make it possible to create new logistics networks for transporting goods from Europe to Asia, from Asia to Europe, from Asia to Russia, and from China to Central Asia and Europe. The railway line is important because it actually minimizes costs. For example, you removed a container, loaded it onto a railway platform, and it went where you needed it,” Bashirov said.

Speaking about the political component of this issue, the expert noted that when all participants in this project earn money, many political speculations will disappear.

“It’s easy to speculate when people are poor. Now imagine that everyone will earn money, towns and villages will develop, and roads will be built. But, of course, the pain and memory of those lost by all parties will remain. It is important that the so-called Zangezur corridor pass through the territory of Armenia, and the border along this corridor is now mainly guarded by border troops of the Russian Federal Security Service. If there is an equal agreement, then Azerbaijan and Turkiye do not need to violate these international borders,” the HSE professor said.

“As for Nagorno-Karabakh, if Armenia ever recognized that this is its territory, at least part of it, then it would be a completely different situation. Azerbaijan took advantage of this legal gap. But this strip of land, this so-called corridor, is recognized by international law as part of Armenia, and that’s what matters,” Bashirov concluded.