Armenia rules out NATO presence on its territory in the context of TRIPP
YEREVAN, December 16. /ARКА/. A NATO presence in Armenia is impossible, as Armenia has no aspirations for NATO membership, stated Sarkis Khandanyan, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations, at a press briefing on Tuesday.
"Armenia maintains a specific framework for cooperation with NATO, which does not include the physical presence of the North Atlantic Alliance on its territory. Discussing this in the context of the TRIPP project is inappropriate," Khandanyan remarked.
His comments were in response to Ali Akbar Velayati, Senior Advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, who claimed that the "Trump Route" (TRIPP) for the Caucasus is fundamentally the same as the so-called "Zangezur Corridor" and that "Tehran is firmly against it."
Velayati noted that the implementation of the corridor project could result in a NATO presence north of Iran, posing significant security threats to northern Iran and southern Russia.
The agreement on the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) established between the leaders of Armenia, the United States, and Azerbaijan, was formalized in a trilateral declaration signed in Washington on August 8.-0-
