Pashinyan Reaffirms Armenian Sovereignty Over Transit Route After US-Brokered Deal with Azerbaijan

Tigran Abrahamyan, a member of the opposition Pativ Unem faction in parliament, questioned the special status of the 43-kilometer section of the road crossing Syunik.

“No matter how hard the sides try to show that this is not about a corridor, given everything that is taking place on the ground and is being presented, it can be viewed more within the corridor logic than the logic of a regular road,” Abrahamyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

Kristine Vardanyan, of the opposition Hayastan faction, argued that the agreement strengthens the positions of Azerbaijan and the United States, while Armenia’s gains remain questionable.

“The fact is that Aliyev has got what he demanded: an unimpeded connectivity through Armenian territory, as stated in the joint trilateral declaration, as well as a [joint] application to dissolve the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group,” Maru said, referring to the only international mediating body, spearheaded by the United States, France and Russia, that had for decades sought a negotiated settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The American side gained an image advantage, appearing as the party bringing peace to the region. And Armenia in fact once again gains nothing, which is why we are talking about unilateral concessions,” the opposition lawmaker added.

Edmon Marukyan, leader of the extra-parliamentary Bright Armenia party and a former ambassador-at-large in the Pashinyan administration, also voiced criticism of the agreement. He noted that the transit arrangement was signed not only with the United States but also with Azerbaijan, arguing that this effectively gives Baku a role in the infrastructure passing through Armenian territory.

“This means that the Republic of Armenia makes the state of Azerbaijan a stakeholder on the communication passing through its territory and it is not defined under any norm of our Constitution, our legislation and it is impossible to imagine even in the worst nightmare,” Marukyan said.

Azerbaijani Constitutional Demands

Following his talks with Pashinyan in Washington, Aliyev indicated late on August 8 that the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty remains conditional on a change of Armenia’s constitution.

The treaty was initiated, rather than signed, during the talks hosted by US President Donald Trump at the White House. In a separate joint declaration, Aliyev and Pashinyan “acknowledged the need to continue further actions towards the signing and final ratification of the Treaty.”

“After appropriate changes are made to the Armenian constitution, the peace treaty can be signed at any time,” Aliyev told Azerbaijani media.

“I have no doubt that in the event of a change in the Armenian constitution — and the Armenian side itself declares the need for such changes — territorial claims against Azerbaijan will be removed from it,” he said. “Otherwise, it would, first of all, be disrespectful towards the United States.”

Aliyev specifically wants Yerevan to remove a constitutional preamble that mentions Armenia’s 1990 declaration of independence, which in turn cites a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. The only legal way to do that is to adopt a new constitution.

Pashinyan has repeatedly denied that the preamble amounts to territorial claims to Azerbaijan. Even so, he has pledged to try to enact a new constitution through a referendum. It remains to be seen whether he will hold the referendum simultaneously with Armenia’s next parliamentary elections due in June 2026.

Armenia’s leading opposition groups have vowed to scuttle the adoption of the new constitution which they believe is imposed by Baku. They say that Pashinyan’s appeasement policy will not bring real peace and only encourages Aliyev to demand more concessions from Yerevan.

TRIPP of a Lifetime

At the tripartite meeting, Trump emphasized that the “momentous” declaration also calls for the opening of a “special transitory that will allow Azerbaijan to get full access to its Nakhichevan territory while fully respecting Armenia’s sovereignty.” Armenia will establish an “exclusive partnership with the United States to develop this corridor, which could extend for up to 99 years,” he said, seemingly confirming reports about a long-term lease on the transit routes sought by Washington.

The US government is reportedly planning to sublease the land to a consortium of private companies. Trump said American companies are already prepared to invest “a lot of money” in what has been officially named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).

Aliyev, who has been pressuring Yerevan to open an extraterritorial corridor to Nakhichevan, stressed the importance of the TRIPP in his remarks at the ceremony. Pashinyan also touted the transit arrangement condemned by his domestic critics as a sellout.

“Today we reached a significant milestone in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations,” he said.

The corridor would pass through Syunik, the only Armenian region bordering Iran. Armenian opposition leaders say US administration of the movement of people and cargo to and from Nakhichevan would undermine Armenian sovereignty over Syunik. They say it would also put Armenia at loggerheads with Russia and neighboring Iran.

Key details of the TRIPP are not yet known, with the Armenian-Azerbaijani declaration making only a general reference to it. Earlier on Friday, CNN quoted an unnamed Trump administration official as saying that Washington and Yerevan will set up working groups to “fully implement the details of the roadmap over the coming months.”

The legally non-binding declaration does not address other thorny issues such as the delineation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border or the release of at least 23 Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan. Nor does it say anything about Nagorno-Karabakh and its ethnic Armenian population that was forced to flee to Armenia following the September 2023 offensive that restored Azerbaijan’s full control over the region.

During a news conference at the White House, a Western journalist wondered whether the Karabakh Armenians will be allowed to return to their homeland. Both Aliyev and Pashinyan ignored the question.