Pashinyan Government Quiet as U.S. Pushes Corridor Through Syunik

Armenia’s national interests may once again be at risk—not from a foreign enemy, but from the policies of its own government. A recent report has revealed that the United States has floated a proposal for an American company to manage a transport corridor through Armenia’s southern Syunik province, connecting mainland Azerbaijan to its Nakhijevan exclave. Shockingly, the Armenian government has not denied the report.

The proposal—first reported by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace —was allegedly presented to both Armenia and Azerbaijan by a senior U.S. official, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Josh Huck, during a regional visit in May. While the U.S. claims that the corridor would be under full Armenian control, the deeper reality is far more troubling.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry’s vague and evasive response does not rule out the plan. Instead, spokesperson Ani Badalyan merely repeated official talking points about the so-called “Crossroads of Peace” initiative and noted that “discussions” with international actors are ongoing. Nowhere in her remarks did she firmly reject the idea of a foreign company managing transit across sovereign Armenian land.

For years, Azerbaijan—backed by Turkey—has demanded a land corridor across Syunik with extraterritorial status, meaning without Armenian border or customs oversight. Armenia has repeatedly said such demands are unacceptable. And yet, under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the lines between “unacceptable” and “negotiable” have grown dangerously blurry.

While Baku pushes for a corridor, Yerevan is now entertaining outside proposals for American-operated logistics networks that serve Azerbaijani interests. This is not sovereignty. This is submission, dressed up in diplomatic language.

Even worse, Pashinyan’s office has refused to clarify whether he will meet Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Dubai later this month. That silence echoes his earlier trip to Turkey, where he held private talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan—just days after Erdogan hosted Aliyev. Armenian citizens were left in the dark as their prime minister pursued possible backdoor agreements with two countries that have long worked to isolate and divide Armenia.

Pashinyan’s Istanbul trip was more than symbolic. It was a message to Turkey—and the world—that Armenia is ready to turn the page, even if it means rewriting history and erasing national red lines. In speeches to the Armenian community in Turkey, Pashinyan appeared to downplay the corridor threat, saying that Azerbaijan would call the transit route a “corridor” no matter what, even if Armenia maintains control.

Such statements are not reassuring—they are alarming. By minimizing Azerbaijani and Turkish demands, Pashinyan is conditioning Armenians to accept dangerous concessions as inevitable. 

Despite government claims that Armenia’s position has not changed, every action tells a different story. The symbolic shift from Mount Ararat to Mount Aragats as a national symbol, the rush to recognize Palestine after speaking with Erdogan, and the quiet erasure of Armenia’s 1990 declaration supporting Karabakh all point in one direction: the dismantling of Armenian identity and security under the guise of normalization.

The Crossroads of Peace project was once pitched as a way to revive Armenia’s role as a regional hub. But under current leadership, it risks becoming a cover for foreign interests to dictate Armenia’s future. If a U.S. company is allowed to manage critical Armenian infrastructure—even under the pretense of neutrality—it opens the door to outside influence, weakens national control, and emboldens Azerbaijan’s territorial ambitions.

Let us not forget that Azerbaijan still occupies sovereign Armenian land and continues to hold prisoners of war. In 2023, it completed its ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh. And yet, Pashinyan’s administration continues to speak of peace without justice, and normalization without security.

Armenia’s borders, sovereignty, and future must not be negotiated in secret. Any proposal involving foreign management of Armenian land—whether American, Russian, Turkish, or otherwise—should be rejected outright. The government’s failure to clearly oppose the U.S. corridor proposal, coupled with its increasing concessions to hostile neighbors, is a betrayal of the Armenian people.

Armenia needs leadership that protects, not surrenders. Leadership that listens to its citizens, not just foreign embassies. Leadership that places Armenian sovereignty above all else.

The people of Armenia are watching. So is the diaspora. And history will not forget.

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