Paul Goble
Staunton, Nov. 18 – Tehran’s Center for the Study of Iran and Eurasia says that plans approved by the leaders of Azerbaijan and Iran in Tashkent a week ago to open a corridor via Iranian territory between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan represent “a strategic breakthrough” for both countries.
(A Russian summary of the original Iranian-language article (which can be found on the institute’s site at iras.ir) is available at casp-geo.ru/strategicheskoe-znachenie-proekta-novoj-zheleznoj-dorogi-azerbajdzhan-iran/.)
The Iranian article stresses that Tehran has agreed to this new arrangement because of its unchanging support for the territorial integrity of all countries including Armenia and that the Iranian route will eliminate any talk about an Azerbaijani threat to Armenia’s Syunik Oblast, which Azerbaijanis refer to as Zengezur, which lies between Azerbaijan and Nakchivan.
This accord, the Iranian article continues, shows that Tehran is interested in stability throughout the region and the development of both north-south and east-west routes that will benefit all the countries involved as well as in maintaining stability and promoting good neighborly relations.
Some Moscow commentators share this view of the future. For a discussion of their visions and also why these may be overly optimistic, given the whip hand it will give Tehran in the flow of people and cargo across any Arax Corridor, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/11/could-arax-corridor-put-end-to-zengezur.html.
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