Armenian Foreign Ministry states that Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev finally made frank statements regarding the so-called corridor, stating that the claims voiced concerning the trilateral statement of November 9 have nothing in common with the trilateral one, spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry Vahan Hunanyan told Armenpress that there is only one corridor mentioned in the statement - the Lachin corridor which has been illegally blocked by Azerbaijan for more than a month.

- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Azerbaijani media that all those who do not want to live in Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijani citizens can leave, because the way to leave is open for them. How would you comment on this?

- With this statement, the President of Azerbaijan is involuntarily admitting that Azerbaijan, in blatant violation of its international obligations under the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, for over a month keeps 120,000 Armenians of Artsakh in a blockade and deliberately drags Nagorno Karabakh into a humanitarian disaster. Azerbaijan recognizes that the ultimate goal of these actions is to subject Nagorno-Karabakh to ethnic cleansing, depriving the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh of the opportunity to live in their homeland. Under these circumstances, we urge the international partners concerned to oblige Azerbaijan to end the blockade of the Lachin corridor and to take clear actions to save the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh from an imminent disaster. The people of Nagorno Karabakh cannot be deprived of their natural right to have and to live in their homeland.

- In the same interview the President of Azerbaijan once again talked about the so-called "Zangezur corridor" and admitted that there is no such term in the trilateral statement of 9 November. At this he threatened that "there will be a corridor no matter what Armenia wants or not". What can you say about it?

- Armenia has repeatedly stated that it is interested in the opening of all transport and economic infrastructures in the region in accordance with the statement of November 9. We are ready to realize this within the framework of national legislation as soon as possible, within the framework of agreements reached on the preservation of sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries over the roads. At the same time, Armenia will never agree to grant an extraterritorial corridor.

It is welcomed that the Azerbaijani leadership is finally stating frankly that the claims made about the so-called corridor have nothing to do with the trilateral statement of November 9. The statement only mentions the Lachin corridor, which has been illegally blocked by Azerbaijan for more than a month. Threats to open the corridor by force once again clearly demonstrate Azerbaijan's violation of the principle of non-use of force or threat of force, which plays a key role in international law, as well as official Baku's absolute disrespect for the agreements reached with the participation of international mediators. Once again we have to state that the actions, belligerent rhetoric and maximalist approaches of the Azerbaijani leadership seriously threaten the possibility of achieving peace and stability in the South Caucasus.

Ilham Aliyev also touched upon the EU observer mission in the interview and expressed his dissatisfaction with the possibility of deploying a new observer mission to Armenia.

First of all, we would like to stress that Armenia highly appreciates the role of the EU observation mission in strengthening of stability and security in the region and prevention of new aggressions against Armenia which ended on December 19, 2022. We have also expressed readiness to continue our mutually beneficial cooperation with the EU in the context of the implementation of the new EU observer mission in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. We do not understand the discontent of the President of Azerbaijan. After all, again, we are talking about the possibility of a mission on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. Apparently, the Azerbaijani side is afraid that the new EU mission will be an obstacle for launching a new aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia, the danger of which is still very high.

- Does this mean that the negotiations can be considered completed?

No, we submitted our proposals on the settlement of relations with Azerbaijan in December 2022, or as they say, the draft of the peace treaty, and now we are waiting for their response.