Azerbaijan Wants Events to Unfold in a Way That Prevents the Opening of Communications: Pashinyan

All must know that there has never been any agreement regarding a corridor through the territory of the Republic of Armenia. The Republic of Armenia has neither verbally nor in writing undertaken any obligations on this topic, and in all cases when such statements have been made, we have clearly expressed our positions. This was stated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan while presenting newly appointed Minister of Defense Arshak Karapetyan to the staff of the Ministry of Defense and the top command of the Armed Forces.

“You know that I have repeatedly spoken about the opening of regional communications during the electoral campaign. This is one of the key provisions of the tripartite statement of November 9. I want it to be very clear, and I believe you have drawn that conclusion from public statements that the opening of regional communications is a priority for the Government of the Republic of Armenia. And what is Azerbaijan doing? It is trying to add components to this topic that are unacceptable to the Republic of Armenia. I mean, in particular, the discussions about the corridor. Everyone must know that there has never been any agreement regarding a corridor through the territory of the Republic of Armenia. The Republic of Armenia has neither verbally nor in writing undertaken any obligations on this topic, and we have clearly expressed our positions whenever such statements have been made. The agreements we have are essentially expressed in the statements of November 9 and January 11.

There is much talk of secret protocols or agreements accompanying the statements, and there are manipulations in the political field about this. There is absolutely no such thing. I consider it very important for all of you to know that there is no agreement on the opening of communications. Yes, there is such an agreement. It is explicitly documented and formulated in the January 11 statement. What is written in that statement? It states that the Republic of Armenia should have the opportunity to transit goods through the territory of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan should have the opportunity to transit goods through the territory of Armenia. I want to draw your attention to the text of the January 11 statement. It clearly states that issues regarding customs, border, sanitary, and phytosanitary controls should be discussed and agreements reached. In other words, there is a clear record that as accepted logically and as happens in all other cases, the crossing of Armenia’s territory, as a transit route, must occur according to those rules; as citizens of Georgia or the Islamic Republic of Iran do today, for example. That is, according to the same rules. Of course, we accepted this agenda.

Why did we accept this agenda? I want to say this as well. Because Azerbaijan's recent political policy for almost 30 years has been the blockade of Armenia. In other words, the opening of communications is actually our agenda, not Azerbaijan's. Because we believe that by opening communications, we overcome Azerbaijan’s policy of blockading the Republic of Armenia. And Azerbaijan brings up the corridor logic specifically for that reason, knowing that it is unacceptable for us. It wants events to unfold in such a way that the opening of communications does not happen—that is, that Armenia’s unblocking does not happen. This is very straightforward logic. And it is very important that we all record these nuances,” stated Nikol Pashinyan.