Robert Kocharyan: TRIPP needs significant adjustments after becoming  a U.S.-driven project advancing Turkish and Azerbaijani interests in  Armenia

ArmInfo. The TRIPP initiative is a US project in Armenia tailored to serve the interests  of Turkey and Azerbaijan. This assessment was voiced by Armenia's  second president and prime minister candidate from the "Armenia"  bloc, Robert Kocharyan, during an interview in Meghri.

 Noting that this project offers virtually nothing to Armenia, he  pointed out that the document itself lacks any guarantees that the  railway will reach Yeraskh. In this vein, the second president also  pointed out that Armenia's share in this program is only 26%. "%. "A  26% share of transit revenues from a 43-kilometer section is not a  significant amount of  money," the politician emphasized.  He  presented his approach, which would allow Armenia to reap actual  dividends from the project.  Specifically, Kocharyan noted that the  TRIPP project needs to be expanded in scale, extending the railway  connection all the way to Yeraskh (a village on Armenia's border with  Nakhichevan – Ed.).

From a geopolitical perspective, it's necessary to expand the  presence of other states trusted by Iran in TRIPP. Otherwise, Armenia  risks facing serious issues in its relations with Tehran.   Emphasizing that the United States is currently in a de facto state  of war  with Iran, Kocharyan pointed out the lack of guarantees that  Tehran would not close its border with Armenia once an American  presence is established in the region.  To support his argument, he  noted that Armenia's share in Iran's foreign trade accounts for only  about 0.2% to 0.3%. According to him, Iran would barely notice the  potential closure of the Armenian-Iranian border, whereas this border  is of strategic importance to Armenia—not only for bilateral trade  but also as an access point to the Indian Ocean and a route for  developing trade with the UAE, the volume of which has grown  significantly in recent years.

"And we are jeopardizing this for the sake of a 43-kilometer transit  section? Forgive me, but this can hardly be called a rational  decision," emphasized the second president and leader of the  "Armenia" alliance.  He emphasized that before deciding to launch the  TRIPP project, negotiations with Iran should have been held to  understand their concerns and the consequences. Kocharyan stated that  the new leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran is more hardline  regarding the protection of its interests. As an example, the  politician cited Iran's strategy for defending its interests in its  conflict with the US, where it utilized methods such as targeting the  infrastructure of the Gulf States—US allies—which caught the latter  completely by surprise. Therefore, as Kocharyan noted, in this  situation, Armenia must prove to Iran through concrete actions rather  than phone calls that the project is by no means directed against it.