Pashinian made this clear after Baku ignored Yerevan’s repeated objections to the use of the controversial term.
A joint declaration signed by Pashinian, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on August 8 does not specify practical modalities of the transit corridor that would run along Armenia’s vital border with Iran. It says that Yerevan will give the U.S. exclusive rights to what will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
Pashinian’s domestic critics maintain that the TRIPP amounts to the kind of an extraterritorial corridor that has been demanded by Aliyev ever since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Statements by the Azerbaijani leader as well as Turkish officials have only given them more ammunition.
Addressing the UN General Assembly late last month, Aliyev said that the TRIPP will ensure Azerbaijan’s “unimpeded access through the Zangezur corridor” to Nakhichevan. Pashinian complained two days later that this statement runs counter to the deal brokered by Trump and is “perceived as a territorial claim” in Armenia. Azerbaijani officials kept using the term even after Pashinian raised the matter with Aliyev during their October 2 meeting in Copenhagen.
“That topic is no longer relevant,” Pashinian told reporters on Thursday. “Yes, there was a very serious discussion at the highest level and in the most authoritative international forums, and as a result of that discussion, the issue was addressed in a communiqué issued following the meeting in Copenhagen. Therefore, that issue, at least for me, no longer exists.”
“I believe that there are no longer any objective grounds for focusing on this issue,” he said.
The remarks are unlikely to convince Armenian opposition leaders and other critics accusing him of misleading the public about the August 8 agreements.
Visiting Armenia later in August, a senior U.S. State Department official said Washington is planning to allocate $145 million for the creation of the TRIPP. In a related development, a team of U.S. customs and immigration officials held talks with their Armenian colleagues in Yerevan last week.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan cautioned on Tuesday that the U.S. and Armenian governments have yet to work out crucial details of the controversial transit arrangement. Pashinian similarly gave no time frames for its implementation. He said only that the two sides are now actively working on the project.
The agreement on the TRIPP has also prompted concern from Iran. Tehran fears that it could pose a threat to the Armenian-Iranian border and lead to U.S. security presence in the area.