The question of whether Armenian border and customs officers will directly check people and cargo moving to and from Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave through Armenia’s Syunik province remains unanswered even after Yerevan and Washington released on Tuesday a joint “implementation framework” for the transit corridor to be named after U.S. President Donald Trump.
The document upholds Armenia’s “sovereignty and jurisdiction over border and customs operations” at the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) that will be managed by a U.S.-controlled company under a “front office-back office” model. It says the TRIPP Development Company will hire private operators that will provide “customer-facing services” such as “initial document collection for verification” and collect transit fees from cargo and individual travelers, using “digital tools” in the process.
Armenian officials are to be given be a “back office” role. They will “maintain a physical presence in all Armenian border and customs facilities,” make “final customs decisions and clearances” and handle “immigration control.”
Azerbaijan has demanded that the transit of people and cargo through Syunik be exempt from Armenian border controls. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in July that Azerbaijanis travelling to from Nakhichevan “should not see the faces of Armenian border guards or anyone else.” A spokeswoman for Pashinian rejected the demand at the time as a “hidden territorial claim” to Armenia.
However, the Armenian premier subsequently signaled readiness to meet that demand. He said modern technology will be used to exclude physical contact between Armenian officers and Azerbaijani travelers. Pashinian pointedly declined to say on Thursday whether there will be such contact.
“The text [of the Implementation Framework for the TRIPP] answers all your questions by saying that Armenia's sovereign functions in the customs and border sectors are indisputable,” he told reporters.
“The document clearly states that the front office or reception does not make decisions and decisions are made by the relevant state bodies of Armenia, that is, the back office,” he said.
Still, Pashinian went on to cite the example of Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airport where Russian border guards had for decades checked the documents of people departing or arriving in Armenia.
“The same can happen in any other part of Armenia, and that is acceptable to us,” he said.
Armenian opposition leaders say the U.S.-Armenian document released after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s talks with Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan is further proof that the TRIPP would amount to an extraterritorial “Zangezur corridor” demanded by Baku.
“Not only does this document not dispel our concerns but it has actually deepened them,” Artur Khachatrian, a lawmaker representing the main opposition Hayastan alliance, told journalists on Wednesday.
“Aliyev's demand that the Azerbaijani driver should not see the face of an Armenian official, customs officer, or law enforcement officer in the ‘Zangezur corridor’ has been met,” said Andranik Tevanian, the leader of another opposition group. “Our people will stay in the background, while the Azerbaijanis will communicate with operators unknown to us.”
Pashinian’s critics say such an arrangement would call into question continued Armenian control of Syunik, the country’s sole province bordering Iran. Iranian officials have voiced similar concerns.