ArmInfo.On March 31, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated at a government meeting that it is inadmissible to draw parallels between the Lachin corridor and the road opening between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan through the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
According to Pashinyan, Baku distorts paragraph 9 of the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020 on the restoration of transport and economic communications in the region, the launch of a road connecting the western regions of Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan. "You know that Armenia has come up with comprehensive proposals on this topic. Without going into details, I will say that the essence of our proposal is as follows: reconstruct the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway, reopen or build a highway that will connect the western regions of Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan, by exercising border, customs and other control at border crossings," he recalled.
According to the prime minister, Baku accepts and rejects this position of the Armenian side at the same time. "They say they agree with any legal regime for the operation of this road, but the same regime should operate in the Lachin corridor, and in support of this position they refer to the statement of November 9," he said.
According to Pashinyan, this statement is unfounded for two reasons. "Firstly, in the November 9 statement, there is no mention of any corridor other than Lachin. The Lachin corridor is not only a corridor, but also a 5 km wide area, which is under the control of Russian peacekeepers, and this is enshrined in a tripartite statement. There is no any clause on control over any part of Armenia by another country," he said.
As the prime minister pointed out, it is strange to draw parallels between Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhichevan for several reasons. "Firstly, Nakhichevan has land communication with Azerbaijan through the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey, air communication – through the airspace of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey and the Republic of Armenia. And Nagorno-Karabakh has only land communication with Armenia – only through the Lachin corridor, and make the Lachin corridor in any way controlled by Azerbaijan means one thing: the expulsion of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh," Pashinyan explained.
Thus, as the head of the RA government stressed, comparing the Lachin corridor with a road that will be opened through the territory of Armenia is unacceptable, the statement of November 9 does not envisage the existence of any corridor through the territory of Armenia, and Armenia has not accepted and will not accept any corridor logic.
At the same time, Nikol Pashinyan once again announced his readiness to open a railway and a highway within the framework of the proposals of the Armenian side. "But we consider it necessary to sign a de jure agreement with Azerbaijan. Why? Because we see a very specific risk when Armenia builds both a road and a railway, and Azerbaijan refuses to open the border. And it turns out that neither Armenia, nor Azerbaijan, nor third countries will not be able to use the infrastructure that requires investments of several hundred million dollars, and Armenia will simply lose several hundred million dollars. What do we propose today? We propose to open the railway in 2021. De jure agreements reached in Brussels on December 14 2012, coordinate the parameters of the railway and start construction, or do it in a package, including the highway, and we are ready to do it as soon as Azerbaijan responds positively to our proposals," the prime minister said. According to him, the proposals were submitted to international partners, who considered them logical, acceptable, meeting the interests of all countries in the region.