Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has confirmed that Yerevan has received a US offer for unblocking regional transit links through Armenia. While not specifying what routes would be unblocked, the statement followed reports that the US proposed the takeover of a route connecting Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenia.
Pashinyan noted that aside from the US offer, Armenia has received various proposals as well, underscoring that ‘any issue is discussed based on the principles of territorial integrity, sovereignty, and jurisdiction’ of Armenia.
Reports of a US proposal to assist in opening a road between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan emerged in early July. The meeting between Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Abu Dhabi also reportedly touched on the establishment of the road.
Yousef Bardouka
Armenia’s general position is that it is interested in and wants the transport infrastructure in the region to be unblocked, Pashinyan said.
However, Pashinyan stressed that the outsourcing of such a route would not compromise Armenia’s sovereignty. In support of his argument, Pashinyan cited Armenia’s outsourcing of management of Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport, its water system, railway, and previously, Armenia’s post operator, saying that those remain Armenian property.
In order to unblock regional transit routes and links, Pashinyan suggested that Armenia was considering the establishment of a company which would attract investments for the development of infrastructure, which according to Pashinyan’s government proposed ‘Crossroads of Peace’ project, includes not only roads and railways, but also the construction of pipelines, power transmission lines, and telecommunications cables, among other services.
‘It is an economy that must be managed, and an economy that must be created, which, according to our logic, should and can be the property of Armenia’, Pashinyan said.
Earlier this week, Armenia 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 Tom Barrack, who appeared to suggest that the US could ‘take over’ the proposal.
‘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.
Following this, US President Donald Trump claimed that his administration had ‘solved’ the Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
While dismissing the lease of Armenian territory, Pashinyan’s spokesperson Nazeli Baghdasaryan said on Monday that the unblocking of regional infrastructure could only take place ‘exclusively within the framework of its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction’.
Baghdasaryan also cited Armenian legislation as prohibiting the leasing of land for any purposes other than agriculture.
However, Pashinyan said that the US proposal would fall under construction rights enshrined in Armenian legislation, with investments being made becoming the property of Armenia after the expiration of the contract.
'Active and intensive discussions on the topic are ongoing’, Pashinyan said, adding that no final agreement had been reached.
He further hinted that the road could be overseen by Armenian border guards — but did not specify in what capacity. He added that current technology allows border control to be carried out autonomously without direct human oversight.
When asked if Armenia would have both Armenians and representatives of another country, while Azerbaijan would have only Azerbaijanis, Pashinyan said that according to his information ‘Azerbaijan is currently building a railway with its own funds [...]. In our case, that model, first of all, for building the railway, we …’, Pashinyan said, leaving the sentence unfinished, possibly implying that Armenia lacks financial resources to independently build its own railway infrastructure.
