The exclave is located on one end of the hypothetical Zangezur Corridor, an overland transport route which would drastically shorten transport times between Azerbaijan and Türkiye and be part of the Middle Corridor.
The Turkish transport minister, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, said that the country will be building a railway along the Kars – Iğdır – Aralık – Dilucu route. The line, which is supposed to be 224 kilometres long, would provide a direct rail connection from Türkiye to Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan corridor.
The announcement could be interpreted as a signal that Türkiye expects some progress to be made on overland transport routes between Nakhchivan and the rest of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan wants a direct connection to Nakhchivan via the so-called Zangezur corridor, which would transit through the southernmost point of Armenia.
Resistance to corridor
Whereas that sounds as a good idea logistically, there is a lot of resistance to such a project. Armenia, for its part, unsurprisingly does not want to give up territorial sovereignty by allowing unimpeded access to Azerbaijani traffic on its territory, not least because the two countries fought two wars over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh in recent years.
Not only Armenia, but also Iran is vehemently opposed to the idea. It sees such a corridor, which is supposed to be secured by Russia, as a disturbance to the balance of power in the region. Moreover, Tehran would lose its shared border with Armenia.
The Iranian alternative
Azerbaijan dropped its demand for the establishment of the corridor in peace talks earlier this year, and Iran has reportedly stepped up with an alternative idea: the Aras corridor, which goes through its own territory, could be improved and function as a shortened route between Azerbaijan and its exclave Nakhchivan. Iran also envisions the corridor as a part of the Middle Corridor.
With the Zangezur corridor seemingly off the table, the Turkish decision to build a railway to Nakhchivan could be seen as a sign that Iran’s alternative corridor could really be gaining ground. And for what it’s worth for Azerbaijan, it theoretically gains a direct rail connection to Nakhchivan, albeit the long way around through Georgia and Türkiye.
