Lawyer on private control of Syunik road 

ArmInfo.  The status of the road passing through Armenia's Syunik region has long been the focus of discussions, the main dilemma being whether this road is a corridor  or not.

This is how legal expert Gohar Meloyan commented on the publication  of the British media site Middleeasteye entitled "The US offers to  control the disputed Armenia-Azerbaijan corridor".

As Meloyan explained in this regard, if any Armenian-Azerbaijani  agreement or treaty stipulates that control over the road passing  through the territory of Armenia is transferred to a private  organization for a period of 100 years, this will mean that Armenia  has actually provided a corridor. "In this case, Azerbaijan acquires  "legal" rights to the territory of Armenia," she explained.

Meanwhile, from a legal point of view, as Meloyan noted, the  unilateral conclusion of such an agreement with a private  organization can be considered as a way to avoid opening a corridor.  "Thus, the difference between a "corridor" and a "non-corridor" will  depend on how the American side's powers are defined - by an  Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement or an agreement concluded between  Armenia and a private US organization," the lawyer concluded.

Earlier, the press secretary of the Armenian Prime Minister Nazeli  Baghdasaryan said that Armenia is not discussing the possibility of  transferring control over its territory connecting Azerbaijan with  its Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic to a third party. This is how she  responded to the words of the US Ambassador to Turkey, the US  President's Special Representative for Syria Thomas Barrack that the  United States is ready to manage the transport corridor through  Armenia's Syunik in an attempt to advance the negotiations between  Baku and Yerevan.

The Meghri route is a project for a transport route about 40 km long  through the territory of Armenia's Syunik region, which would provide  transport links between the western regions of Azerbaijan and its  exclave, the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic. The opening of  transport routes in the region was envisaged by point 9 of the  trilateral statement of November 9, 2020 by the leaders of Russia,  Armenia and Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is trying to distort  the essence of these agreements and obtain an extraterritorial  corridor.