Gohar Meloyan: TRIPP is being implemented in a way that ensures Armenia has less involvement and minimal revenue

Arminfo.  The “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP) is being implemented in such a way as to ensure Armenia’s minimum possible involvement, minimal income and minimal influence. Constitutional law specialist and member of the Strong Armenia party Gohar Meloyan wrote this on her Facebook page, reacting to a statement by the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister regarding the progress of the project’s implementation.

According to her, the most disadvantageous part of his statement for the Armenian side was not even the fact that “the route passing through the sovereign territory of Armenia was once again referred to as the so-called ‘Zangezur Corridor.’” The main problem, Meloyan noted, lies in the following wording: “The 42-kilometer section of the Nakhijevan–Turkey route passes through the territory of Armenia.”

“This means that the new international highway and railway being built in the South Caucasus and intended to become competitors to the already existing Baku–Tbilisi–Kars route, a section of which will pass through Syunik Province, will not enter Armenia and pass through Yerevan after Nakhijevan, but will head directly from Nakhijevan to Turkey. This indicates that this international route is being designed and implemented in such a way as to pass through Armenia as little as possible. The goal is to ensure Armenia’s minimum possible involvement, minimal income and minimal influence,” the party member explained.

She also urged people not to forget that 74% of the revenues from this road will go to the United States, not Armenia, unlike Azerbaijan, which does not intend to share the revenues from the route passing through its territory. “And unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan did not undertake obligations to ensure unhindered passage, so that the Azerbaijani leader could declare that an Azerbaijani would not see the face of an Armenian on a road passing through our country,” Meloyan concluded.

Let us recall that on August 8, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a joint seven-point “Declaration on Peace” in Washington. It provides for a joint appeal to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to terminate the OSCE Minsk Process and related structures, as well as the creation of a transport corridor through Armenian territory that will connect Azerbaijan with its Nakhijevan exclave, surrounded by Armenia, Turkey and Iran. The TRIPP project (Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity) is a 42-kilometer section of road through southern Armenia that, according to reports, will be transferred to U.S. management for 99 years.

It should be added that on January 14, the Armenian Foreign Ministry published the framework document on the implementation of the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP), signed with the U.S. side in Washington. The 12-page document sets out the project’s main goals and operating mechanisms. Among other things, the document emphasizes that Armenia intends to authorize and support the establishment of TRIPP Development Company. At the same time, the company is expected to be responsible for developing the TRIPP project, receiving an initial development right for a term of 49 years. Armenia intends to offer the United States 74% of the shares in TRIPP Development Company, retaining 26% for itself. It is assumed that this partnership will be extended for another 50 years, with an additional ownership stake granted to the Armenian government, as a result of which its share will amount to 49%.