“I have no information that Azerbaijan is building a railway and is already moving by train. If you know… no, I do not want to refer to the Azerbaijani media,” Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Armen Simonyan told reporters in parliament on December 3, responding to the remark that Azerbaijan intends to connect to Nakhichevan by train. As for the unblocking of transport infrastructure in general, the Deputy Minister said that different routes are being studied.
“Railway and mobile roads are considered as a priority. Everything is clear as far as what routes we have. One is our southern part, the other from Yeraskh to Nakhichevan, and the other from Hrazdan through Ijevan to Azerbaijan. We also have a current direction, which is through the territory of Georgia. Another railway leads to Turkey. Specifically with Azerbaijan, we have routes passing through Yeraskh, Hrazdan, and Meghri.”
Simonyan informed, “At this stage, we are still discussing the routes and the processes crossing the borders. There is no clarity now, so I can not say anything. The only thing that is clear is that there should be unblocking. We are not discussing anything else. We are talking about transit transportation. In other words, we get a railway-road connection with Russia through the territory of Azerbaijan, and with Iran through the territory of Nakhichevan.” Turkey is also building a new railway to connect Nakhichevan through Syunik.
Luiza Sukiasyan
