Official Baku's Recent Statement Was Unexpected for Us: Mher Grigoryan

The statement made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev regarding the "Zangezur corridor" came unexpectedly for the Armenian authorities following the trilateral meeting between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on November 26. However, official Yerevan hopes that the work of the trilateral working group consisting of deputy prime ministers will continue constructively after returning to a productive atmosphere. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan in an interview with TASS.

“The recent statement from official Baku was unexpected for us. It was assumed that in the coming days we would continue the trilateral working group meeting. I hope the situation will return to a constructive track, and we will continue our work based on the principles that have already been agreed upon,” Grigoryan said.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia, “all meetings of the working group have taken place in a constructive atmosphere. We hoped that the work would continue within the framework of the fundamental principles that have been recorded between the three countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia), as well as those agreed upon during the deputy prime ministers' meetings,” he added.

As Grigoryan noted, “the parties in the trilateral working group had reached an understanding on the unblocking and restoration of the railway.” He further highlighted that “the parties also clarified that the sovereignty of the country through which the unblockable routes pass extends over those roads. There were concerning details remaining for discussion on other issues.”

The last meeting of the trilateral working group of deputy prime ministers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia took place on December 1 in Moscow. At that time, it was announced that the parties would continue discussions, but this was followed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s statement regarding the “Zangezur corridor,” in which he demanded “clarification from the Armenian side regarding the deadlines for providing it.”

The Armenian authorities have repeatedly stated that neither the trilateral statements of November 9, 2020, January 11, 2021, nor November 26, which were signed by the leaders of Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan, mention the corridor or corridor logic.