Robert Cutler: Those who oppose Zangazur corridor 'are locked into a zero-sum mentality’

Those who oppose the Zangazur corridor are locked into a zero-sum mentality, a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, Robert Cutler.

According to him, such an open corridor is beneficial to peoples who live in the region: "The creation of the Zangazur corridor would, as you point out, make life easier for Baku. But they believe that their own strength depends, in part, on complicating life for Baku as much as possible. It is correct that such an open corridor is beneficial to peoples who live in the region. For example, it will promote more general development and prosperity.”

Cutler said that opening of the Zangazur corridor would, in turn, lead eventually to higher levels of education, more information and greater leisure: "Those developments would encourage political mobilization to present demands to the authorities. These elites, however, view such eventual developments as a threat. They are content to maintain their peoples in relative poverty and ignorance because that makes it instrumentally easier for them to rule and conserve their position and privileges. One thing we have not touched on is the fact that Russia actually wants the corridor to facilitate overland communications with Türkiye."

As for the position of Azerbaijan's southern neighbor, Robert Cutler said it is difficult to predict: "Because it depends on so many sensitive factors that can change from day to day. Of course, it is theoretically possible to build such a corridor. This might be to Azerbaijan's greatest advantage. But, to be honest, I cannot foresee right now one way or another, because in the wake of the antiterrorist operation in Karabakh, daily events are still in control of how things develop in the longer term. And Azerbaijan-Iran relations would have to improve significantly, which might be possible if the Embassy in Tehran is re-opened. The logic of the corridor is obvious. Whether people will respect this logic depends on their motives, and motives in the region are shifting dramatically from week to week. As for putting the corridor through Armenia, there is also the Western Zangazur political issue that complicates things inside Armenia. Right now, it all depends on ‘how things go'."





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