Official Yerevan Makes a Call to Baku

According to Azerbaijani media, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan made demands towards Armenia during a meeting with residents of the Gonakhkend village in the Quba district on December 6, 2021, to accept Azerbaijan's conditions and announce a specific timeline for the opening of the so-called "Zangezur Corridor." The Azerbaijani president also accused the Republic of Armenia of demonstrating an insincere approach to issues regarding roads and communications.

In connection with these statements, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia finds it necessary to emphasize that the agreements regarding roads and communications between the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the Russian Federation are recorded in the statements of November 9, 2020, January 11, 2021, and November 26, 2021. In these statements, there is no obligation, condition, or agreement for the Republic of Armenia to provide Azerbaijan with a corridor or a route following corridor logic.

The trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, records the parties' agreement to unblock all economic and transport connections in the region. The same statement claims that the Republic of Armenia guarantees the security of transportation communications between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

The January 11, 2021 statement established a trilateral working group co-chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers of the Republic of Armenia, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Azerbaijan to implement the 9th point of the November 9, 2020 statement regarding unblocking all economic and transport connections in the region.

The 3rd point of the January 11, 2021 statement stipulates that for the main directions of activity to be realized, the co-chairs of the working group will approve the composition of expert subgroups in these areas, including representatives and officials from the competent bodies of the Parties.

According to the 4th point of the January 11, 2021 statement, the working group will present a list and timeline of measures necessary for the restoration and construction of new transport infrastructure objects required for organizing, implementing, and ensuring the security of international transportation through the territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia.

The trilateral working group decided to establish two expert subgroups during the first meeting held on January 30, 2021. One subgroup is focused on railway, road, and combined transportation, while the other emphasizes transportation security, including issues of security, border, customs, sanitary, veterinary, phytosanitary, and other types of control.

The Republic of Armenia has previously stated at the highest levels that it is interested in unblocking all transport and economic connections in the region, understanding that the western regions of Azerbaijan are receiving road and rail connections through the Republic of Armenia to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (thus also to Turkey), while Armenia is receiving road connections via the territory of Azerbaijan to the Russian Federation and rail connections to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

On November 5, 2021, during a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of the Republic of Armenia, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and co-chair of the trilateral working group Alexey Overchuk stated that the search for solutions within the trilateral working group is based on the following principles: the sovereignty over the roads is preserved by the countries through whose territories these roads pass, and the types of control during border crossings will be implemented based on the principle of reciprocity. Earlier, Alexey Overchuk noted that the issue of the corridor is not being discussed in the trilateral working group.

On the anniversary of the signing of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation published informational material, clearly stating that all participants of the trilateral working group agreed that all unblocked and newly created transportation routes will operate in respect of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the countries they pass through.

On November 26, 2021, a meeting took place in Sochi, Russia, attended by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of the Republic of Armenia, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, during which the principles mentioned in the 8th point were reaffirmed.

Considering the aforementioned circumstances, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia declares: a) The statements of the Azerbaijani president do not relate in content to the statements of November 9, January 11, and November 26, contradict the agreements reached in the trilateral working group and in Sochi, pursue destructive and provocative objectives, and threaten the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia; b) The Republic of Armenia is committed to all its obligations mentioned above and is ready for the prompt implementation of the agreements; c) The list and timeline of measures for restoring and opening regional communications—roads and railways—are being discussed within the framework of the trilateral working group, whose work is hindered by Azerbaijan's provocative rhetoric.

The Republic of Armenia calls the attention of its main security partner, the Russian Federation, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the UN Security Council, the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, and the entire international community to the fact that official Baku continues to issue warlike statements with clear threats of the use of force against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia, violating fundamental principles of international law, including the UN Charter, and jeopardizing regional and global security. The Republic of Armenia calls on the Republic of Azerbaijan to refrain from provocative rhetoric and actions and not to obstruct the unblocking of all economic and transport connections in the region.