Armenia is considering the possibility of transferring the functions of ensuring the security of transport communications with Azerbaijan to private companies in the future. The companies will be solely responsible for the security of transport communications. Tax and customs functions will be performed by the relevant services of Armenia. It is worth recalling that the Armenian side has already made proposals in this regard and has failed to fulfill its obligations in this regard.
Because on November 10, 2020, according to paragraph 9 of the tripartite statement between the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, which ended the Second Karabakh War, all economic and transport links in the region are blocked and transport control is carried out by the Border Service bodies of the Federal Security Service of Russia. However, due to Armenia’s move away from Russia and leaning towards the West and attracting forces from outside the region, it was not possible for the processes to move in a positive direction. Of course, it will be difficult to achieve sustainable peace in the region as long as Armenia pursues a non-independent policy that becomes dependent by attracting foreign forces to the region, which is the responsibility of official Yerevan and its sponsors.
the topic Oku.AzA political scientist who evaluates Rashad Bayramov According to him, when talking about transport communication and its security between Azerbaijan and Armenia, it should be noted first of all that the Zangezur corridor is not only a regional transport corridor, but also a globally supported line: “It is no coincidence that several world power centers, from China to Russia and the United States, yes, several global powers, including Great Britain, are interested in opening this corridor, but the problem is that each of these powers is only interested in the Zangezur corridor. As a result, the conflict of interests of several power centers is delaying the implementation of this project.”
“For example, Iran viewed the process as part of its own economic and political interests and had a negative attitude to the Zangezur Corridor project in advance. The United States and a number of Western countries want the opening of the Zangezur Corridor only on the condition that this line of communication bypasses China, Iran and Russia. In other words, this means not only the exclusion of Russia’s control over the Zangezur corridor, but also opposition to China’s Middle Corridor project “One Belt One Road”. The United States does not want this project, which is one of the main principles of China’s economic growth strategy, to become a reality. All they are interested in is the extension of this highway from Europe to the countries of Central Asia. The country takes control of the middle route of the “One Belt, One Road” project from China because it wants to reap political and financial dividends, it demands the opening of the corridor based on paragraph 9 of the tripartite declaration signed between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on November 10, 2020. Armenia, on the contrary, yielding to the constant “At the insistence of the West, it opposes the opening of the Zangezur corridor as agreed in the declaration of November 10, i.e. on the condition that Russia controls the road, and considers it a threat to its sovereignty. According to the Yerevan official, the corridor should be controlled by them or by one of the countries that they consider close to them. This, of course, is in the interest of neither China nor Russia. The proposal to transfer control of the road to an international organization was put forward precisely for this reason – to satisfy all parties,” the political scientist stressed.
Our interviewer said that already at the Brussels meeting between Azerbaijan and Armenia held last year there were certain ideas that the International Customs Union could act as a mediator in this case: “In general, there are currently two proposals: control of the corridor either to that customs union or to the organization “Frontex” (European Border and Coast Guard Agency) is a secondary issue for us. The main thing is that the corridor should be opened on the principle from Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan. control of the corridor is transferred to Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, we can agree to this only on condition that the staff of that agency will operate along the Zangezur corridor, because it is known that France is one of the leading countries of Europe, and Paris will try to place its representatives there under the name “Frontex”. I think that if control of the Zangezur corridor is given to this organization, it should consist only of representatives of neutral countries.”
“In general, the Zangezur corridor is now more of a problem for Armenians than for us. If Western countries want to get Armenia out of the regional impasse and pave the way for European integration, they must definitely take into account Azerbaijan’s interests, because unlike Armenia, we have alternatives that go through Georgia,” Bayramov concluded.
Merahim Nasib
