"The Lachin corridor begins after crossing the border." Comments from Baku

Azerbaijan comments on events in Karabakh

Azerbaijan is commenting on events in Karabakh that took place on Sunday, March 5. A clash between the soldiers of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces and Armenian military formations left dead and wounded on a detour road of the the Lachin corridor. According to Azerbaijani experts, official Baku should establish a checkpoint on the border with Armenia. “Only by blocking the border with Armenia can Baku can stop all illegal arms trafficking between Armenia and illegal gangs on the territory of Azerbaijan,” political observer Haji Namazov noted.

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It was too early to draw conclusions from contacts with Karabakh Armenians through the mediation of the Russian military commandant’s office, Elkhan Shahinoglu, head of the Atlas analytical center, said.

“In the post-war period, the Azerbaijani army fought on the border with Armenia in response to provocations and captured strategic heights. But if shots are fired in Azerbaijan itself, in Karabakh, then I think the scale of the provocation is larger. The separatists, relying on the support of the Russian military, dared to go on the offensive against the Azerbaijani Armed Forces,” the political scientist said.

In his opinion, the goals of Azerbaijan have not changed after the second Karabakh war:

“These goals can be described in several points:

separatists must be disarmed;
break the military connection between Armenia and the Karabakh separatists, and for this it is necessary to create border and customs posts at the end of the Lachin road;
in two years, Russian military personnel must leave the region.
But the course of events shows that Baku cannot postpone the realization of its goals for the future. Settlement of Lachin and Shusha should begin this year.

Azerbaijan cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the recent past. The safety of the residents of Karabakh and eastern Zangezur must be ensured. And this requires the neutralization of all elements that create such threats,” Shahinoglu said.

He also noted that yesterday’s statements by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan contain a clause on the need to establish a checkpoint on the Lachin road:

“Obviously, the state structures of Azerbaijan are in solidarity with society on this issue. There is no other opinion on a checkpoint on the Lachin road. Installing an X-ray scanner at the checkpoints of Russian peacekeepers is useless and pointless. If this is not under the control of Baku, then ammunition and mines will continue to come from Armenia.

The repetition of the demand for a checkpoint in official statements suggests that such a decision has already been made by Baku, and a clause will appear in the near future.

Of course, this is not an easy task. On the one hand it is necessary to solve the military-technical side of the matter, on the other hand to avoid a collision with the Russian peacekeeping contingent.”

Azerbaijani politician and a leader of Republican Alternative opposition party, Natig Jafarli, commented on what happened on March 5 in Karabakh and suggested steps to be taken by Azerbaijan:

“Firstly, it becomes known that for months Armenia and the self-proclaimed regime have been telling tales about a “blockade”, but there are numerous alternative roads, and the Armenians use these roads with the direct organization and participation of Russian “peacekeepers”.

Second, despite the brazen statement of Sergey Lavrov that the agreement of November 10, 2020 does not provide for the establishment of checkpoints, a checkpoint on the Lachin road must happen.

Is Azerbaijan governed by the November 10 statement? We do not have internal laws, the Constitution?! The requirements of the Basic Law of Azerbaijan on the protection of borders should not be fulfilled only because of a piece of paper not ratified by the Parliament? What is not in the tripartite statement should be regulated by the laws of Azerbaijan and its Constitution.

Third, the agenda of the Azerbaijani parliament should include the issue of the immediate withdrawal of “peacekeepers” from the territory of the country, because the Russian contingent is only engaged in the defense of the unrecognized regime, and does not fulfill its direct duties.

The Kremlin does not understand soft language. Parliament must necessarily adopt such a law, and given that the president has two months at his disposal to approve the laws adopted in the Milli Majlis, Russia must begin to fulfill its obligations during this two-month period. Otherwise, if the Azerbaijani state structures are unable to return to Khojaly, if the peacekeepers prevent the establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin road, if they prevent contacts between Baku and Karabakh citizens of Azerbaijan of Armenian origin, the law must be signed, and the state must begin the process of withdrawing Russian soldiers from its territory.”

According to political observer Haji Namazov, the tripartite statement of November 10, 2020 has nothing to do with the issue of protecting state borders:

“The trilateral statement refers only to the Lachin corridor. This corridor begins after crossing the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and fully belongs to the territory of Azerbaijan. This explains why Russian peacekeepers serve exclusively in Azerbaijan.

In other words, the Lachin corridor does not interfere and should not interfere with the protection of the state border by Azerbaijan. You pass the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan and find yourself on this notorious corridor.

Azerbaijani experts have long been talking about the existence of alternative roads connecting different points of the Lachin corridor with the region densely populated by Armenians in Karabakh. Only by blocking the border with Armenia can Baku can stop the entire illegal circulation of weapons between Armenia and illegal gangs on the territory of Azerbaijan.”

https://jam-news.net/the-lachin-corridor-begins-after-crossing-the-border-comments-from-baku/