Pashinyan: Azerbaijan's constant harping on 'corridor theme' is nothing but sabotage

Azerbaijan's constant exaggeration of the "corridor theme" in the context of unblocking all regional communications is nothing but a distortion and sabotage of the implementation of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan stated this in his address during Friday’s regular meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member countries.

"I want to stress that the ninth paragraph of this statement nowhere and in no way mentions the word "corridor." In the statement of November 9, 2020 the word "corridor" is used only in relation to the Lachin corridor in the context of ensuring security of Nagorno-Karabakh and has no relation to the issue of unblocking transport communications, and we consider any parallel to these agreements as manipulation.

The manipulation with the text of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, unfortunately, has become the policy of Azerbaijan, and it is reflected in the fact that, despite the fact that the statement clearly states the existence of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan says that Nagorno-Karabakh does not exist.

As for the realization of the point 9 of the trilateral statement, this issue was explained in detail in the trilateral statement of January 11, 2021 in Moscow. Moreover, the Trilateral Working Group co-chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation determined that the reconstructed and constructed transport infrastructure facilities should operate under the full sovereignty of the countries through whose territory they pass.

I declare officially: We are ready to open the roads as soon as possible on this basis. Moreover, the draft decision of the Armenian government on the opening of three checkpoints to ensure the transport communication between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan has long been in official circulation, but the President of Azerbaijan himself is against such a decision. And this is related to the desire of Azerbaijan to unblock the communication routes and isolate the movement of people, goods and transport as much as possible, and this shows that they are not interested in the logic of establishing lasting peace in the region.

As for the construction of new transport communications, according to the above-mentioned principles, we are ready for that too, and it is hindered by Azerbaijan's aggressive policy, the manipulation of the text of the trilateral statements.

Azerbaijan is trying to present that the construction of new roads is Armenia's obligation, but the trilateral statement says that the parties must agree on this issue. And we are ready for such agreement, moreover, we are interested in it, and the only thing we expect from Azerbaijan in this issue is constructiveness.

I also want to respond to some of the statements of the President of Azerbaijan. What concerns the mines. This is fully and completely on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. It is our right to undertake some security measures to protect the territorial integrity of our country.

I would also like to say that attempts to give a religious context to the situation are unacceptable. We have very close relations with many Muslim countries. A very clear example of this is that most of our allies in the CSTO are Muslim countries. We have very close and close relations with Iran, with many Arab countries, and the Nagorno-Karabakh issue has never had any religious basis.

I am simply surprised with the Azerbaijani President's statement that Armenia has organized or is organizing attacks on Azerbaijani embassies in European countries or the United States. Those are totally groundless allegations. I think that obviously if there were such facts, Azerbaijan would have published those facts long time ago.

In the overall context I want to say that Armenia is truly and sincerely aiming at peace in the region. Of course this is not a simple issue. It is a very deep problem, but it seemed to me that as a result and during several of our meetings, both through the mediation of the Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. Putin, and through the mediation of other foreign leaders, that we had a common understanding of what we should strive for and what concrete steps we should take to establish peace and stability in our region. Obviously, that requires steps, and the Republic of Armenia - I think we have shown this and proven it - our government is ready for such steps.

Once again I would like to say that the only thing we expect from Azerbaijan in this process is constructiveness," he noted.