The possible unblocking of communications in the region is not related to the delimitation and demarcation of borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan said in an interview with TASS.
“We follow the Sochi statement of the leaders of the three countries, according to which we agreed to take steps to increase the level of stability and security on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and to lead the case towards the creation of a bilateral commission on the delimitation of the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan with its subsequent demarcation with the advisory assistance of the Russian Federation. The issue is in no way interconnected with the possible opening of transport communications in the region,” he said.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia also added that within the framework of the trilateral working group co-chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan on unblocking transport communications, an expert subgroup has been created, which is working on the issues of ensuring transportation in the event of opening the borders. “There has been no discussion of the final regulation of these issues,” he said.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Azerbaijan’s statement on the alleged “Zangezur Corridor” in the border Sinyuk region of Armenia was unexpected for the Armenian authorities, but Yerevan hopes that the work of the Deputy Prime Ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia to unblock regional communications will continue within the framework of the fundamental principles that have already been agreed.
“The last statement of official Baku was unexpected for us. It was assumed that in the coming days we will continue the work [of the working group]. I hope that the situation will return to a constructive track, and we will continue to work within the framework of the fundamental principles that have already been agreed upon,” he said. he.
According to Grigoryan, “all the meetings of the working group have so far been held in the format of a constructive dialogue.” “We hoped that the work would continue within the framework of the basic principles that were fixed in the statements of the leaders of the three countries, and had already been agreed upon during the discussions at the platform of the working group of the deputy prime ministers,” he added.
As the Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia noted, within the framework of the working group, the parties “had a mutual understanding on the issues of restoring and unblocking the railway infrastructure.” “There was also an understanding that the sovereignty of the roads will be retained by those countries through whose territory they will pass, and these roads, in turn, will be under the jurisdiction of the country through which they pass. There were some nuances on other issues,” he stressed. he.
The last meeting of the trilateral working group of the vice-premiers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation was held on December 1 in Moscow.
On Monday, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, speaking during a visit to the Quba region, demanded from Armenia to name a specific date for the opening of the “Zangezur Corridor”. Yerevan has repeatedly stated that the trilateral statements of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh and the opening of regional communications do not imply the provision of any corridors to Baku through the territory of Armenia.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Aliyev’s statements contradict the agreements reached in trilateral format.