Pashinyan on Azerbaijan's Collection of Money from Iranian Drivers

Today, during a Q&A session with the government in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan responded to a question regarding the establishment of Azerbaijani police checkpoints along the Goris-Kapan highway and the collection of money from Iranian drivers by Azerbaijanis, saying:

“In those areas, the Goris-Kapan highway goes beyond the administrative border of the RA or Soviet Armenia at two points. This circumstance is the reason why at known locations, notorious signs and checkpoints have appeared,” he stated.

Pashinyan noted that an agreement was reached in December 2020 that the highway should be used without obstacles for the transit of vehicles and cargo from the RA. “I assume that since the matter of foreign cargo was not fixed in that agreement, Azerbaijan is applying this measure, perhaps in response to our statements that neither the trilateral statements of November 9 nor January 11 mentioned provisions for providing a corridor through the territory of Armenia,” he added.