After taking Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan is now eyeing a strategic strip of Armenia

A narrow corridor of Armenia sits at a strategic crossroads that Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey and Russia are all competing to access – prompting fears it could soon be at the centre of a new war, writes Francesca Ebel

Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh flee to Syunik, part of the Zangezur corridor (AP)

Outside the old Meghri train station in southern Armenia, a rusting locomotive, emblazoned with a fading emblem of the Soviet Union, sits on the tracks, as if still waiting for passengers who stopped coming long ago.

The station’s overgrown courtyard and dilapidated waiting rooms were once filled with Armenians, Azerbaijanis and visitors from across the Soviet Union, travelling between Baku and Yerevan, or Moscow and Tehran. A modest cafeteria sold tea and snacks, and in summer, fruit sellers on the platform hawked persimmons and pomegranates, grown locally in the orchards that hug the valley.

Meghri sits at a strategic crossroads that regional powers, including Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey and Russia, are competing to access – prompting fears it could soon be at the centre of a new war.