In an interview with Petros Ghazaryan on Public TV on November 7, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan referred to the unblocking of infrastructure and the issue of the Meghri corridor. In response to the question about how Russia announced about the Zangezur corridor, according to which, if the roads are opened, those countries should have a sovereign right to control those roads, so can we state that the topic of the corridor is closed, Pashinyan answered that the topic was closed on November 9 last year, when the trilateral statement was signed. “I highly appreciate the publication of Russia’s position on this issue because Russia has never had a different position and not only has Russia’s position been made public, but also Azerbaijan’s.”
Pashinyan spoke about Turkey’s statement made the day before. “It is true that they are using the expression “corridor,” but they say that the corridor should be under the control of the Republic of Armenia. Armenia is interested in opening communications in the region, Azerbaijan is interested, and so is Russia, Iran, and Turkey. The problem here is to bring the perceptions of the resolutions closer and to identify them.” Regarding the activities of the working group negotiating the unblocking of infrastructures, Nikol Pashinyan said that a lot of work has been done, and from the beginning only technical work has been done․
“For example, what roads existed and what roads can exist. Point 9 of the trilateral statement says that all transport and economic communications in the region must open, after which there is a reference to the fact that Armenia guarantees transport communication between Nakhichevan and Azerbaijan, after which it discusses building new transport communications with the agreement of the parties. This test is that the existing transport communications should be opened and if in time it turns out that the cargo transportation is so large that we already have to think about new communications, then we have to think about new communications. Our perception is that yes, Azerbaijan should be able to communicate with Nakhichevan through Armenia’s sovereign roads, and we are ready. The Republic of Armenia must have communication with Russia and Iran. Moreover, when we talk about Azerbaijan having communication with Nakhichevan, we are talking about having communication with Turkey. We pursue the topic of international communication.”
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According to Pashinyan, the working group designed and studied all possible routes: Ijevan-Kazakh section, Berd-Tovuz, Angeghakot-Pichenek, and the Horadiz-Meghri-Ordubad-Yeraskh section. “Our perception is that Yeraskh-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway must be built with Armenia on its territory, Azerbaijan on its own.The working group has put all possible routes on the table, and we must come to an agreement through discussions.”
Nelly BABAYAN
