Krikorian: Open borders with Azerbaijan and Türkiye to be beneficial for Armenia

Open borders and mutual trade including acting as a transit route would be beneficial for both Azerbaijan and Armenia, Onnik Krikorian, an analyst and journalist from UK, told Report.

Commenting on the potential of the Zangazur corridor in establishing economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Krikorian recalled the article of the current Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan where he noted the economic potential of cargo transit via Armenia.

"Even in 2001, Pashinyan wrote in his newspaper that trade and transit between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan as well as by others wishing to use the route can only benefit Armenia," the analyst said.

Krikorian believes that control of the corridor remains the main problem for Yerevan:

"For Pashinyan, however, the problem is control. As he seeks to diversify away, though not totally, from Russia, he doesn’t want Russian control. Nor too does the West as the US has openly stated. They also include China in this as well. Sadly, it has become a geopolitical football and that might continue for some time," the British journalist said.

He also emphasized that the construction of infrastructure for transit corridors in Armenia, including the Zangazur corridor, will create jobs and attract investments, which is already an important step in itself.

In the context of launching regional corridors, Krikorian noted the importance of opening the border with Türkiye for Armenia. In his opinion, the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan is closely connected with the process of settling Armenian-Turkish relations.

"Both Ankara and Baku consider both Armenia-Azerbaijan and Armenia-Turkiye normalization as connected," he said.