In the coming years, perhaps even sooner, it may become possible to travel by train from Baku to Nakhchivan via Zangezur and then to Türkiye, Zahid Oruj, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the Milli Majlis, APA reports.
The MP said that the resumption of the Baku–Tbilisi–Baku passenger train service on a daily basis, after a six-year break and on the eve of Independence Day, is an important political signal of the transition from regional security to economic integration, and from border protection to the opening of communications:
“Beginning in 2020, first the pandemic and later military and security threats in the region forced our state to impose various restrictions at the borders. If closed borders were a necessity for security during that period, the passenger train now being launched is peace moving on rails. We should not forget that this decision is being made at a time when the Russia–Ukraine war and military tensions in the Middle East have still not subsided. The opening is not limited only to the Georgian direction; it is an important link in broader regional integration.
Türkiye’s Special Representative for Armenia, Serdar Kılıç, crossed the Alican–Margara border checkpoint and traveled to Yerevan, while Cevdet Yilmaz signed an agreement with Pashinyan on the joint restoration of the Ani Bridge. However, there can be no doubt that our brotherly country will decide on opening borders and establishing diplomatic relations only after the signing of a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Some circles are bringing Dilijan to the forefront and highlighting the interests of business circles in the Igdir and Kars regions. However, the political position of the two states is determined not by local interest groups, but by the common will of our peoples, whose combined population is approaching 100 million, and by the strategic leadership of Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In the coming years, perhaps even sooner, it may become possible to travel by train from Baku to Nakhchivan via Zangezur and then to Türkiye. The expansion of export and transit opportunities with Armenia will change that country’s traditional geography of economic dependence and increase the number of forces benefiting from peace.
The prospects for restoring railway connections in the Zangezur direction and with Iran show that the South Caucasus has never been closer to sustainable peace, economic connectivity and communication integrity than it is today. A region fragmented for centuries by wars, occupations and blockades is gaining the opportunity to reunite.
We believe that the routes used by passenger trains today will bring closer the day when vehicles, people, trade and mutual trust will freely cross borders. The greatest reward of victory is not new wars, but security, cooperation and lasting peace.”
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