The U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Thomas Barrack, indicated late last week that Washington has proposed a 100-year lease on such a transport link in a bid to facilitate a peace deal between the two South Caucasus nations.
“They [Armenia and Azerbaijan] are arguing over 32 kilometers of road, but this is no joke,” Barrack told reporters in New York. “It’s been going on for a decade -- 32 kilometers of road.”
“So what happens is America comes in and says, ‘Okay, we’ll take it over. Give us the 32 kilometers of road on a hundred-year lease, and you can all share it,’” he said. “But these tribal points of view do not fade.”
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s press secretary, Nazeli Baghdasarian, dismissed the idea in comments to the official Armenpress news agency.
“We have repeatedly said that Armenia is discussing the issue of unblocking regional infrastructures exclusively in the context of Armenia's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction,” she said. “We cannot discuss any other logic.”
Baghdasarian also argued that Armenian law allows only the lease of agricultural land for farming or grazing purposes.
“Therefore, the option mentioned by the U.S. ambassador is not possible,” she said.
Barrack’s comments are consistent with reports that the U.S. proposed recently that Armenian border and customs checks for the transit of people and cargo to and from Nakhichevan be outsourced to an American company. The U.S. State Department did not confirm or deny the reports last week.
Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on July 10 that Yerevan is ready, in principle, to discuss such an arrangement.
“This process must be carried out under the sovereignty, jurisdiction, and territorial integrity of Armenia,” said Safarian. “If it complies with these principles, then yes, it can be carried out.”
Baghdasarian appeared to contradict Safarian’s statement, however, saying that Armenia is “not discussing outsourcing control over its own sovereign territory to any third party.”
“No part of the territory of the Republic of Armenia can be outside the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or jurisdiction of the Republic of Armenia,” added Pashinian’s spokeswoman.
Armenian opposition leaders and other critics of Pashinian have expressed serious concern about the reported U.S. proposal. They say that such an arrangement would undermine Armenian sovereignty over the transport links for Nakhichevan passing through Syunik, the only Armenian province bordering Iran.
Iran is strongly opposed to the extraterritorial corridor sought by Azerbaijan as well as Turkey. In a clear reference to the U.S. and other Western powers, Tehran has also repeatedly spoken out against the presence of “extra-regional” forces in the South Caucasus.