By Astghik Bedevian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Some provisions of a US-Armenian agreement to open a US-run transit corridor for Azerbaijan through Armenia run counter to Armenian law, according to the Justice Ministry in Yerevan.
The ministry drew this conclusion in a written opinion submitted to the Armenian government. But citing political reasons, it recommended the agreement’s approval by the government, which was formalized on July 16.
The deal was signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in early June. It lays out the key terms of the planned Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) that would run along Armenia’s border with Iran and connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave and Turkey.
It calls for the creation of a joint venture that will manage for at least 49 years a railway, a road, energy supply lines and other infrastructure to be built along the corridor. The US government will own 74 percent of the TRIPP Development Company (TDC) that will receive “exclusive land use rights, development rights, related permissions, and all other rights” necessary for the transit arrangement.
While upholding Armenia’s “full sovereignty and jurisdiction over its borders and customs operations,” the agreement commits the Armenian government to the so-called “front office/back office” model whereby private operators hired by the TDC will provide “customer-facing services” at the border crossings with Azerbaijan. Armenian officials are to be given a “back office” role there.
