Monday, September 4 2023 16:58

ArmInfo.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan explained to the Italian newspaper La  Repubblica whether the issue of the so-called "Zangezur corridor" part of the peace talks between Yerevan and Baku.

In particular, as the correspondent of La Repubblica noted, "when it  comes to the areas that Azerbaijan controls today in Armenia and we  see more and more claims of Azerbaijan to get over the control a  corridor, which the call "Zangezur" corridor from Azerbaijan to  Nakhichevan, is this corridor also a part of the peace talks?"

"Let's start with the following, they have no right to expect a  corridor. If we are talking about the November 9, 2020 tripartite  statement, the word "corridor" is used there with respect to one  case, and that's the Lachin Corridor, which is not a road." Pashinyan  said.  To the remark that they (Baku, ed. note), however, continue to  use  that term, Pashinyan said that this shows the aggressiveness and  illegality of Azerbaijan's policy. And when the media, following  Baku, repeat the "corridor" term, they (Baku, ed. note) achieve their  goal, including through the media, the prime minister added.

"When I say Lachin Corridor, I can point my figure on a paper signed  by the president of Azerbaijan. And I don't even need to show it, you  can search and find it within a minute. So do you or other  journalists ask Azerbaijan where they got this word from, who  invented that, what right they have to make such a statement or  demand a corridor from Armenia? Everything starts from here,"  Pashinyan noted.

"If you know in Moscow, at the summit of the Eurasian Economic Union,  the president of Azerbaijan made an attempt to use such a narrative,  but whenever he used it, I responded and reacted to demonstrate this  invented narrative aimed at justifying aggressiveness. I repeat, when  I say Lachin Corridor, I have a paper to back it signed by the  Azerbaijani president and myself. There is no other document in the  world or history that assumes that there should be a corridor in the  territory of Armenia in the logic which Azrbaijan is attempting to  bring forward. The opposite it backed by a document. The lawfulness  and appropriateness of this term (Lachin Corridor - edited) has been  affirmed and recorded by the International Court of Justice.   Azerbaijan claims there is no Nagorno Karabakh, it does not exist,  but I can show a document signed by the Azerbaijani president, which  states that Nagorno Karabakh exists, it has its territory and there  is a line of contact, that is a perimeter. Nagorno Karabakh also has  the Lachin Corridor, 5 km wide, which takes care of the communication  of Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia. This is a very serious discourse,  and it is very important not to use non-serious terms and vocabulary  in this very important discourse," he stressed.