The issue of providing the so-called “Zangezur Corridor,” as well as the potential resettlement of Azerbaijanis in Armenia, is not within the decision-making power of Armenia’s authorities, regardless of who is in power. This opinion was expressed by political strategist Armen Badalyan.
According to him, Iran is categorically opposed to providing Azerbaijan with a road under the “corridor logic,” a stance that Tehran has repeatedly and openly declared. Furthermore, Iranian authorities have consistently emphasized their opposition to any ethnic changes near their borders.
“To those who claim that Baku intends to resettle 300,000 Azerbaijanis in Armenia, I would suggest paying attention to the fact that Azerbaijan has been unable to populate even occupied Artsakh. What can we talk about then? They barely managed to settle 25–30,000 people across the entire territory of Artsakh. Baku simply lacks the resources to send hundreds of thousands of settlers to Armenia,” Badalyan noted.
He added that even the resettlement of a small group of Azerbaijanis, if imposed by Baku, would inevitably lead to demands for the deployment of forces to ensure their security—something Iran would find absolutely unacceptable.
“Tehran fully understands that the so-called Zangezur Corridor is directed against Iran’s interests. And if the resettlement format proposed by Azerbaijan is implemented, we would no longer be talking about a corridor but about turning the entire territory of Armenia into that corridor,” he emphasized.
According to Badalyan, Turkey also realizes that the issue of providing a corridor does not depend on Armenia’s authorities. He stated that Ankara and Baku currently need Armenia’s current leadership only for one reason—to prevent the rise of national forces in Yerevan. “They understand that they have already obtained the maximum possible from this government. There’s nothing more to gain,” the political strategist concluded.