Authorities Mislead Public on Azerbaijan-Pashinyan Declaration Breaking Armenia's Blockade: Khachatryan

Arthur Khachatryan, a member of the 'Armenia' faction, wrote on his Facebook page: 'The Syunik corridor and unblocking.

The Pashinyan authorities are stubbornly misleading the public, claiming that the Azerbaijan-Pashinyan bilateral declaration signed in Washington breaks Armenia's blockade. Firstly, this document clearly states that Azerbaijan gains unhindered access through Syunik, yet there is no clear formulation on what Armenia receives in return—just some vague 'mutual benefit.'

Let me remind you that several years ago, Nikol Pashinyan proposed providing corridors to Azerbaijan and Turkey for money. He forgot to demand the unblocking of Armenia. I cannot rule out that this time his memory has also betrayed him.

The authorities also assert that even if transit through Nakhichevan is permitted, it will break Armenia's blockade. How so? For Armenia's blockade to be broken, Armenia must gain access to the outside world through Turkey and Azerbaijan. For example, Turkey must open all the routes it has closed since 1993. Specifically, I am referring to the Gyumri-Kars railway. However, Turkey has not announced any such plans. Turkey and Azerbaijan are building the Kars-Igdir-Aralik-Dilucu line (Dilucu is the border crossing point in Nakhichevan). From this, Armenia gets nothing, neither hot nor cold.

No rational person could think that anyone would transport their goods from Yerevan to Meghri, then board a train and travel through Nakhichevan to Turkey. You might say, 'Why not enter Nakhichevan from Eraskh? It’s only 60 km from Yerevan to Eraskh.'

Dear friends, Azerbaijan has not declared that it is ready to renovate or operate the Sadarak-Eraskh section. It has said nothing of the sort. Back in January, in an interview with Armenpress, Pashinyan said, 'We have already had the opportunity to announce that we have made a very concrete proposal to Azerbaijan to open the Eraskh-Sadarak-Ortubad-Meghri-Zangelan railway. This is more than a proposal, this is a specific solution to specific questions, and we are waiting for a positive response from Azerbaijan, after which the agreements reached will be recorded on paper, and we will begin the construction of our sections of the railway.'

But did Azerbaijan give a specific response? Moreover, the Armenian authorities had offered Azerbaijan to open three border crossing points back in 2022: Sotk-Karabagh, Karahunj-Eyvazli, and Eraskh-Sadarak. Even then, they circulated a draft government decision regarding this. The Azerbaijanis categorically rejected that proposal at the time, demanding a corridor through Meghri in return. Official Yerevan prefers to stay far away from the mischief of such demands, and they also choose to forget about the rejection.

So why are they so elated? Come on, thank God. They wouldn’t say they voluntarily provided a corridor, or else Aliyev would get upset. They have an unparalleled talent—to deceive the people and present defeat as a victory.

By the way, why aren’t they talking about the Ijevan-Ghazakh line? After all, our main export market is in the north. Why was the demand to unblock all roads forgotten? All of them, not just Meghri. Why, why... Azerbaijan does not allow it, while independent sovereigns have the right only to prepare egg dishes for New Year’s with no permission from Azerbaijan.