Politician: Armenian authorities  closing  border with Iran for 100  years

ArmInfo.On January 14, the Republic of Armenia and the United States of America signed the "Framework Agreement for the Implementation of TRIPP," with which Nikol Pashinyan's Armenian diplomacy took another inglorious step toward "lowering the bar" for our country's sovereignty, as stated by  Levon Zurabyan, Vice Chairman of the Armenian National Congress and candidate for Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia from the  aforementioned party.

According to the document, the politician noted, a special "cover" is  being created in Armenia for the construction and operation of  communication routes connecting Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan. The  exclusive management of these routes will be effectively transferred  for 99 years to the "TRIPP Development Company," which will be  established with a controlling stake from the US government. 

"In fact, all the information disseminated by Reuters on the eve of  August 8th last year and presented in US President Trump's speech,   has been fully confirmed, despite being openly denied by the Armenian  authorities in a hysterical tone. It is now clear that, in reality,  they were attempting to gradually convey information to our society  about a deal that would be humiliating for Armenia, hoping that  during this time, the state propaganda machine of brainwashing and  persecution of political opponents would help contain the wave of a  possible uprising resulting from diplomatic failures. And the  published document will go down in the history of our state as one of  the most shameful pages in the weakening of our independence and  sovereignty for the following reasons:

1. During the first 49 years of its operation, 74% of the TRIPP  Development Company will belong to the United States of America, and  only 26% to Armenia. This means that the lion's share of the profits  from the transit exploitation of our sovereign territory will go to  America itself. After this, the controlling stake, 51%, will belong  to America for another 50 years. Our country was obligated to at  least retain a controlling stake in order to be able to talk about  maintaining sovereignty.

2. The most concerning provision of the document reads: "Armenia  intends to grant the TRIPP Development Company the following  exclusive rights: to plan, design, develop, construct, operate, and  maintain multimodal transit infrastructure within designated transit  routes." According to this clause, no other company, or even the  government of the Republic of Armenia, may build any other  communications infrastructure in the TRIPP zone. By this clause, the  Armenian government acknowledges that for 100 years, it will not have  the right, for example, to build a railway connecting Armenia with  Iran, or even just connecting Meghri with Yerevan, because the  American government might object. What does this mean?  This means we  are transferring our sovereignty in strategically important areas of  Syunik to another state.  This is simply unacceptable and must be  reconsidered.

3. Although the Framework Agreement includes a section on Armenia's  obligations, such a section is completely absent from the United  States, which emphasizes that it concerns Armenia's unilateral  obligations exclusively.

4. For some reason, the justification for Armenia's share includes  the phrase "cash investments as needed," implying that even providing  its own sovereign lands is not enough to obtain its meager 26 percent  share, and Armenia still needs additional cash investments.

5. Another shameful provision is that the "TRIPP Development Company"  in the area of operation effectively receives the status of absolute  tax collector, which is codified in the following paragraph: "The  TRIPP Development Company may collect and retain revenues from  various sources, which will include, but are not limited to, the  following: infrastructure access fees, commercial activities within  the transit route, real estate leases and development, service fees,  and a share of revenue from special-purpose entities." 6. And  finally, Ilham Aliyev's main dream has come true. Azerbaijani  passengers and trucks will not see an "Armenian face," as the "front  office" interacting with them will be managed by the "TRIPP  Development Company," while the "back office," controlled by the  Armenian government, will receive information directly from the  "TRIPP Development Company." Moreover, passenger and cargo screenings  will be conducted based on the principle of "risk-based selectivity -  modern cargo screening," meaning that, at best, screenings will only  be conducted on a small percentage of passengers and cargo, and only  in cases selected by the "TRIPP Development Company," Levon Zurabyan  noted.

In his opinion, Nikol Pashinyan's government, filling the document  signed with the US with empty statements about Armenia's  "sovereignty," is actually surrendering it through regulations in  Syunik, which are of strategic importance for Armenia's independence  and sovereignty, closing the border with Iran for 100 years.