journal N3 2025

DOI: 10.52340/ekonomisti.2025.03.04

Summary

The main supporters of the Zangezur Corridor (TRIPP) discussed in the article are the US, Armenian, Azerbaijani administrations and the Pan-Turkic forces of Turkey, which are trying to expand their influence in the Caspian Sea region, Central Asia and even on the projects of China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”. They rely on the points of the agreement that provide for: 1) unblocking economic and transport links in the region; 2) ensuring transport links between the western regions of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan by Armenia along the banks of the Araks River; 3) construction of new transport links between Nakhchivan and other regions of Azerbaijan. Therefore, their statements about TRIPP as an alternative to the Georgia-EU Caspian hydrocarbons western “corridor” are unclear.

For example, in Forbes, July 18, 2025, in an article titled “America’s Growing Influence on the Zangezur: How a US-led Corridor Could Cut European Energy Prices and Counter Russia,” Guney Yildiz writes: “This has serious implications for Europe’s energy security. According to the IEA’s 2025 World Energy Outlook, Europe will need 20 billion cubic meters more non-Russian gas by 2030. Normalized Armenian-Turkish borders could improve access to Caspian Sea reserves, potentially reducing import costs by 10-15 percent for companies like BP (Forbes, G. Yildiz, 2025).

This idea conflicts with the EU’s BTC oil pipeline and the “Southern Gas Corridor” projects, which are supported by the European Union, as well as Georgia and Azerbaijan. This situation indicates the complex geopolitical dynamics in the region and the different interests of different parties regarding the development of energy routes.

We support that part of the experts who rightly disagree with this interpretation and present 4 arguments: a) the TRIPP agreement concerns only the movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo, and not the construction of a railway or the transportation of oil and gas; b) the so-called “Zangezur Corridor” (TRIPP) will pass through the territory of Armenia and will be controlled by the US military, i.e. on the 43 km bank of the Araks River, within the framework of one country, the US military will be located near the Russian Gyumri military base and the regional RF border guards, - one of the 4 detachments (Погранотряд) of Russian border guards deployed in Armenia. This one is directly deployed in Zangezur, in the city of Meghri (TASS, 2024); c) Deployment in the “Zangezur Corridor” the Russian border guards and the Gyumri base poses a risk to both the pipelines of European energy companies and the entire transport infrastructure; d) The starting/ending points of the “Zangezur Corridor” are Azerbaijan and NATO member Turkey, and not the Syunik region of Armenia (Zangezur), i.e. the starting/ending points of the cargo will be in Turkey and Azerbaijan and the RF border guard nothing to do there.

Azerbaijan and Turkey have already agreed on the Baku-Erzurum-Nakhchivan gas pipeline project in February 2020. In the memorandum, Ilham Aliyev and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed their mutual interest in building a gas pipeline from Erzurum and Igdir to Nakhchivan, an autonomous region separated from the rest of Azerbaijan, via Georgia. The main topic of discussion during the talks was whether Turkey could help improve the energy security of Azerbaijan\'s Nakhchivan autonomous region, which is threatened by the Syunik (Zangezur) corridor in Armenia.

Keywords: Zangezur Corridor, Caspian Sea, Central Asia, Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, NATO, gas pipeline.