APA, Azerbaijan Nov 2 2017 Baku says Yerevan may join new rail after pullout from Karabakh [Armenian News note: the below is translated from the Azeri edition of APA] Azerbaijan has said that neighbouring Armenia may start using the newly-inaugurated Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway after the long-standing conflict over breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh is resolved. "Our precondition for Armenia's joining this project is that first of all the [Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict must be resolved and [Armenian] troops must withdraw from our territory. After that it will be possible to use every opportunity for cooperation and neighbourly relations. Azerbaijan has not invaded any lands," APA quoted Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov as saying on 2 November. Mammadyarov was speaking at a news conference with visiting Montenegrin Foreign Minister Srdjan Darmanovic. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway linking Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey was put into operation on 30 October. The railway bypasses Armenia, which has been locked in a largely frozen conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region since the late 1980s. Many in Armenia view the new rail route as a tool used by Azerbaijan and Turkey to deepen the country's isolation; Armenia is a landlocked country that shares borders with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Iran.
Azerbaijani Press: Baku says Yerevan may join new rail after pullout from Karabakh
