Establishing Zangezur corridor will strengthen Ankara-Baku ties: Turkish president

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) – Establishing the key Zangezur corridor land route in the southern Caucasus would help build stronger ties between Türkiye and Azerbaijan, the Turkish president said on Tuesday.

"If we solve the Zangezur issue quickly, this will lead us to progress on two important gains taken by both road and railway,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a joint news conference with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital.

He added that with the corridor, "Türkiye's connections with (the Azerbaijani exclave) Nakhchivan will grow much stronger. The existence of these connections will lead to strengthening relations between Türkiye and Azerbaijan.”

The planned Zangezur corridor – an unimpeded road through Armenian territory connecting Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave – would also link Azerbaijan directly to eastern Türkiye and so give additional unity to the larger Turkic world.

Erdogan is in Baku after visiting the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as part of his first foreign tour since his reelection on May 28.

The Zangezur region was originally part of Azerbaijan, though the Soviets gave it to Armenia in the 1920s, leaving Azerbaijan deprived of its direct overland route to Nakhchivan.

Following its 44-day war with Armenia in fall 2020, Azerbaijan has focused on planned connections including motorways and a 43-kilometer (26.7-mile) railway through the corridor.

Erdogan also announced that work has begun to establish a Türkiye-Azerbaijan university.

For his part, Aliyev said cooperation between Türkiye and Azerbaijan is vital for the region.

The close brotherly ties between Türkiye and Azerbaijan are often summed up in the motto: “One nation, two states.”