Azerbaijanis Urgently Insisted That the Zangezur Corridor Is Intended for Armenians, Says Varujan Geghamyan

On October 29, I was invited as an eastern studies expert to St. Petersburg to participate in the 9th International Conference on "Eurasian Economic Perspectives," organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS, where I presented a report. My report, titled "Armenian Syunik as a Window to the Middle East for the EAEU," was included in the section of the conference dedicated to "Development of Transport Corridors in Eurasia."

My task was to show what prospects the North-South corridor through Syunik has and why it could be significant for the entire EAEU structure as the shortest, most reliable, and promising route to the Middle Eastern region.

There were also representatives from Azerbaijan who were urgently trying to promote the opposite of the North-South corridor, citing the opening of the Syunik “Turkic/Zangezur corridor,” while claiming that this corridor is beneficial for Armenia and that it is being opened specifically for Armenians. Naturally, they received the necessary counter-arguments from me. However, it must be understood that they are currently working in this way on all possible platforms, and unfortunately, they do not always receive a response.

As long as our state does not have a national authority, Armenia's foreign policy must be advanced by us—national civil society—utilizing all available tools of public diplomacy. No one will advocate our interests in our place. This is our task.

At this moment, Armenia's interest implies thwarting, by all means, the opportunity of a corridor to be granted to the Turks by the capitulate government and promoting the rapid construction of the "North-South" corridor.