For years, the idea of an East–West transport artery running through the currently southern Armenian province of Syunik, known in Azerbaijan as the Zangazur Corridor and in Armenia increasingly referenced under the more neutral “TRIPP” framework, was treated in Yerevan as political heresy. Yet over the last several months, there has been a striking shift in tone. Armenia, once vehemently opposed to any discussion of a land link connecting mainland Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan, is now signalling pragmatic openness. The recent meeting between the economy ministers of Armenia and Turkiye, the first of its kind in years, marks not merely a diplomatic thaw but a recalibration of Armenia’s strategic outlook.

This change is not happening in a vacuum. Faced with geopolitical isolation, diminished military leverage, and a critical need for economic diversification, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan appears increasingly determined to break from the security paradigms that defined Armenia’s post-Soviet trajectory. His government’s growing interest in opening the TRIPP route is one of the clearest manifestations of that shift.

Nevertheless, Armenia's political discourse around the TRIPP, Trans-Regional International Project for Peace, has evolved remarkably fast. Although the term “Zangazur Corridor” remains politically sensitive in Yerevan, the underlying logic of re-establishing regional transport connectivity is gaining traction. The meeting between the Armenian and Turkish economy ministers underscored this trend; the discussions reportedly focused on trade, logistics and long-term economic cooperation, all of which........

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