RFI: Iran’s weakening provides an opportunity for Turkey and Azerbaijan to implement the ‘Zangezur corridor’ project
With Iran suffering setbacks in Syria and Lebanon, regional rivals Azerbaijan and Turkey are stepping up efforts to secure a strategic goal through the “Zangezur corridor” project that Tehran had been blocking, Radio France Internationale (RFI) writes. As noted, Turkish and Azerbaijani foreign ministers met in January in both Baku and Istanbul as part of efforts to deepen economic and trade cooperation.
Key to those goals is the plan to create a route dubbed the “Zangezur corridor” that would link Azerbaijan to the autonomous region of Nakhijevan bordering Turkey.
Iran’s ally Armenia also opposes the corridor as an imposition on its territory. But with Iran weakened by setbacks in Syria and Lebanon, Baku and Ankara see an opportunity to push ahead.
“A weaker Iran is a huge opportunity for Turkey in the Caucasus,” Atilla Yesilada, a Turkey analyst for GlobalSource Partners, said. “The only reason why Armenia resists the establishment of the ‘Zangezur corridor’ is because of promises by Iran to defend it militarily.”
But with Iran coming under pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump, Azerbaijan or Turkey might be less likely to take Iran’s threats seriously, argues Yesilada.
However, given Iran’s regional setbacks and the threat of increased pressure from Washington, Tehran needs friends in the region.
In January, Iran appeared to soften its opposition, with one senior Iranian diplomat declaring opposition to the “Zangezor corridor” no longer a priority. Tehran’s apparent softening coincides with its deepening ties with Moscow.
Moscow supports the “Zangezor corridor” as a way to bypass international sanctions by creating new trade routes through countries that don’t impose them.
“Russia is basically rebuilding its whole logistical network and this corridor is a potentially important part of this new network from north to south,” Tatiana Mitrova, a research fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at New York’s Columbia University, said.
Analysts suggest that Washington has, until now, contained Turkey and Azerbaijan’s intentions.
However, the new Trump administration has not yet positioned itself on the corridor project.
If Ankara focuses its efforts on reviving the stalled Azerbaijani-Armenian peace talks, then diplomatic gains could outweigh the economic benefits of the “Zangezur corridor”, Asli Aydintasbas of the Washington-based Brookings Institution says.
