‘They will talk about Syunik’: Alexander Bedritsky on Pashinyan’s visit to Brussels

Speaking with Alpha News, political scientist Alexander Bedritsky commented on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Brussels.

According to the expert, in Brussels, the conversation will most likely be about either the “Zangezur Corridor” or a special status for the entire province.

“I think that in Brussels they will generally talk about Syunik because they are interested in the ‘Zangezur Corridor’ specifically, that is, Syunik. They seem to have already reached a direct agreement with Azerbaijan to hand over five villages. Therefore, most likely, it will be about Syunik; either it will be about a corridor or about a special status for the entire province. Here the interests of both the United States and Turkey coincide. I mean, if Turkey as a whole has interests that coincide with those of the United States and Britain in some places but do not coincide in others, then in the context of this corridor to Nakhichevan, their interests coincide completely.

It is clear that Azerbaijan and Turkey have the thesis ‘one nation, two states’ and as soon as a common border appears, that is, a common corridor, we can already talk about a common state. If this is a common state, then it is a NATO member state. In any case, the issue of Azerbaijan’s accession to NATO will be on the agenda. Maybe not this year, but in the future, for sure. For Armenia, this means, first of all, not even a cooling of relations with Russia. It means that Armenia will be cut off from Iran, which is also very interested in Armenia in maintaining the current status quo and ultimately also gives a lot to Armenia. In any case, the losing side will not even be Pashinyan—because Pashinyan has nothing to do with the Armenians and Armenia—but the people of Armenia,” Bedritsky said.

“Iran once offered Turkey and Azerbaijan a transport corridor through its territory, a corridor that would be under its full control. But while the Turks and Azerbaijanis stay on top, they don’t take this seriously,” Bedritsky concluded.