Armenia has denied discussing outsourcing control of a proposed road connecting Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan through Armenian territory, following what appears to have been an off-hand remark by the US Ambassador to Turkey suggesting that the US could ‘take over’ the controversial proposal.
Ambassador Tom Barrack made the comments in a vague tone, perhaps as a hypothetical example for a potential solution to an issue that remains a key roadblock in the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
‘So what happens is America comes in and says: “Okay, we’ll take it over. Give us the 32 kilometres of road on a hundred-year lease, and you can all share it” ’, Barrack said in a press briefing on 12 July.
Barrack also suggested that Armenia and Azerbaijan had been arguing over ‘32 kilometres of road’ for a decade. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted in 1988 over the Nagorno-Karabakh region; Azerbaijan’s demands for a road through Armenia began following their victory in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020.
On Monday evening, as the ambassador’s statement began to be widely circulated, the Armenian side dismissed his claims.
In a comment to Armenian state news agency Armenpress, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, the spokesperson of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, reiterated that Armenia was discussing the issue of unblocking regional infrastructure ‘exclusively within the framework of its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction’.
‘We cannot consider any other logic’, Baghdasaryan said.
She also claimed that under Armenian legislation, leasing of land existed only for agricultural purposes and ‘therefore, the option mentioned by the US Ambassador is not possible’.
Baghdasaryan also insisted that Armenia ‘has not discussed, and is not discussing, the outsourcing of control over its sovereign territory to any third party’.
OC Media has contacted the US Embassy in Turkey for clarification regarding Barrack’s statement, but has yet to receive an answer.
Previous rumours of a US proposal
As the controversy online was underway, US President Donald Trump claimed that his administration had ‘solved’ the Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict.
During a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House, Trump suggested that it ‘looks like that’s going to come to a conclusion — a successful conclusion’.
Reports of a US proposal to assist in opening a road between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan have emerged since early July. There were reports this was among the topics discussed during Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s bilateral talks in Abu Dhabi earlier in July.
The proposal was first reported by analyst Olesya Vartanyan in an article for the Carnegie Russia-Eurasia Centre.
Following Vartanyan’s article, the Armenian Foreign Ministry did not deny that the US had suggested participating in the unblocking of regional transit links between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Nate Ostiller
Armenian journalist Tatul Hakobyan also reported that Washington had proposed taking control of the route and then transferring control to an ‘American-Armenian organisation’. He said the offer had been confirmed by Pashinyan and that it had received ‘preliminary consent’.
The issue reportedly was discussed during the bilateral talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders on 10 July. Following the meeting, Azerbaijani pro-government media outlet APA reported that the meeting was held in a ‘very constructive atmosphere’, and that the two countries discussed the proposed road.
Armenia and Azerbaijan concluded talks on the text of the peace treaty on 13 March, appearing to have come to an agreement. However, the treaty has remained unsigned as Azerbaijan continues to push for preconditions, including the opening of the road.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
