ArmInfo. As one would expect, having carried out ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkiye and Azerbaijan started talking loudly about the so-called "Zangezur Corridor".
In an interview with the Turkish TV channel A Haber, Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloglu said that Ankara is discussing this issue with Yerevan. "Turkiye is discussing with Armenia the opening of the 43 km long Zangezur Corridor. It is also possible that the corridor will be implemented by Iran. We are thinking about quickly bringing this program to life," the minister said. According to Uraloglu, the new route will connect "the two Turkish republics and the Far East with a direct line."
Commenting on this opportunity to ArmInfo, Doctor of Political Sciences, head of the Institute of Energy Security of the Republic of Armenia Vahe Davtyan pointed out the interest of international actors in the implementation of this project. According to him, all the processes that take place in the region are directly related to the energy, transport and logistics sectors. Most recently, the European Union signed an agreement with Azerbaijan on increasing the volume of gas supplies to EU countries. "It is about increasing the volume of Azerbaijani gas supplies to Europe to 20 billion cubic meters from 2027. The reason is that the existing "Southern Gas Corridor" gas pipeline has a fairly limited throughput capacity, and the 20 billion cubic meters that the EU intends to import from Azerbaijan after 2027 is the maximum volume," the expert noted.
He emphasized that for additional volumes, Europe needs new routes for the supply of natural gas and other hydrocarbons from the Caspian region. And in this regard, the Armenian region of Syunik is beginning to acquire very important importance. "The project called the "Zangezur Corridor", which our neighbors are trying to implement, is not just a transport connection, it is also, as Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov has repeatedly stated, an opportunity to transport gas and electricity to Turkey and further to European markets," Vahe Davtyan said.
He added that Azerbaijan has an obvious lack of resource base to ensure all of its contractual obligations. For that, as the expert mentioned, Azerbaijan needs Turkmen gas, which is necessary for re-exporting to the markets of third countries through the Zangezur Corridor. "I am more than convinced that the Zangezur Corridor project fits into the strategy of diversifying the directions of energy supplies to EU countries, including in order to reduce the share of Russian gas supplies," the expert emphasized.
