Turkey’s Century-Old Desire for a Corridor Through Syunik Does Not Harm Armenia's Interests: Geghamyan on Pashinyan’s Article from 20 Years Ago

Turkologist and Azerbaijani studies expert Varoujan Geghamyan made a post on his Telegram page stating: “Exactly 20 years ago, on May 23, 2001, an article titled ‘We and Our Interests’ was published in one of the newspapers in Armenia, addressing the issue of a Turkish corridor through Syunik. In that article, the author argued that ‘...the irony is that Turkey's exit to Central Asia through Meghri does not contradict our interests at all; rather, it contradicts the interests of Russia and China.’ In fact, the author claimed that Turkey's century-old desire to have a corridor through Syunik does not harm the interests of Armenia.

He continues, ‘The fact that Meghri should be for the Turks and the USA is simply wonderful... Armenia's stance on this issue must be unified: if Turkey or Azerbaijan want to communicate through Meghri, let them communicate. Let them use our territory, let them use our railway, and pay for it, as is customary in the world.’ According to the author, there is no geopolitical problem if Turkey and Azerbaijan have a corridor through Syunik with all the dangers that follow. Essentially, a short-term opportunity to earn some money is preferred over the creeping Turkification of Syunik, which has been opposed by all leaders of the First Republic of Armenia, Soviet Armenia, and independent Armenia.

As an orientalist, I note that this article, written 20 years ago, was penned by a person who knows little about the real geopolitical situation in our region and possesses short-sighted, superficial reasoning. This person does not understand how important the corridor through Syunik is for Turkey (and not the USA), how dangerous it is for Armenia, and how other regional states from Iran to Georgia actually regard this issue.

Indeed, the author of this article written 20 years ago is Nikol Pashinyan. So there is nothing surprising that today, under the leadership of that capitulator, the Armenian occupation regime is facilitating the Turkification of Armenia by granting a corridor to Turkey and Azerbaijan, effectively condemning our state to a final death.

And despite the attempts of pro-Turkish Armenians to deceive us by claiming that the road to be given to the Turks is not a corridor, such a trick is a cheap manipulation. If a road is going to pass through the sovereign territory of Armenia and has a special status (according to the capitulation announcement of November 9), then it is nothing other than a corridor (it may not be called a ‘corridor’, it can be named anything, but this does not change its essence).

It is with such articles that traitors have weakened the idea of the Armenian state and facilitated the dissemination of Turkish-Azerbaijani informational warfare among us for more than 20 years. If today a corridor is granted to the Turks under the existing conditions, then the restoration of the Armenian state will become many times more complicated.