The Idea of Opening a Corridor Distorts the Content of Tri-party Statements: Armenian Foreign Ministry

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to a question from the Armenpress news agency.

Question: During a joint press conference with the Serbian Foreign Minister, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister accused Armenia of obstructing the implementation of the November 9 trilateral statement. How do you comment on this claim?

Answer: When examining the implementation of the trilateral statements of November 9, 2020, and January 11, 2021, one should be guided by clear facts and not by a subjective interpretation of these statements. The facts are as follows:

One month after the signing of the statement, Azerbaijani military units violated the first point of the statement, which stipulated that the parties should remain in their positions, and launched an attack in the direction of the villages of Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd in the Hadrut region of Artsakh, resulting in the capture of these settlements and the killing and abduction of Armenian servicemen.

Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan has not fulfilled the eighth point of the November 9 statement, which stipulated the exchange of prisoners of war, hostages, and other detained persons. Moreover, Armenian prisoners of war are subject to criminal prosecution, which is also a gross violation of international humanitarian law.

Since May 12, Azerbaijani armed forces have penetrated and continue to be present in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. It should be noted that the Azerbaijani military units penetrated the Republic of Armenia from areas over which Azerbaijan has established control as a result of the implementation of the November 9 statement. Thus, in response to Armenia's constructive approach to implementing the statement, Azerbaijan has opposed a policy of encroaching on Armenia's territorial integrity, undermining regional security and peace.

The fact that Azerbaijani military units are in Armenian territory has, in fact, been acknowledged by the President of Azerbaijan, who stated that "Zangezur is the land of our ancestors." Recently, Azerbaijan has been making statements denying the territorial integrity of Nagorno-Karabakh, which in turn violates the seventh point of the statement, where the parties, including Azerbaijan, agreed on the term "Nagorno-Karabakh territory." In connection with the unblocking issues, Armenia has been and remains mostly constructive in the implementation of the November 9 and January 11 statements.

Unfortunately, this constructive approach of Armenia has been consistently exploited by the Azerbaijani side in public official statements and attempts have been made to circulate the idea of "opening a corridor," which is unacceptable and completely distorts the content and purpose of the trilateral statements.

It is noteworthy that alongside these manipulations, Azerbaijan has made both territorial and historical unfounded claims against Armenia, while on the other hand, Azerbaijani military units have invaded the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.

Regarding the allegations that Armenia is not assisting Azerbaijan in landmine clearance in the conflict zone, it should be emphasized that the November 9 statement does not contain any provision for cooperation between the parties on mine clearance. It is also worth recalling that Azerbaijan has traditionally opposed any possibility of collaboration with Armenia and Artsakh in this regard. Furthermore, in 2017, due to Azerbaijan's efforts, the OSCE office in Yerevan was closed, with the justification that this OSCE body was dealing with humanitarian mine clearance programs.

Having no commitment to cooperate on mine clearance, the Armenian side has nevertheless provided information to Azerbaijan through third parties as a gesture of goodwill. The complete return of prisoners of war, hostages, and other detained persons by Azerbaijan can create a constructive environment for the consistent implementation of the November 9 statement.