Pashinyan: Azerbaijan will carry out passport and customs control on  its territory on Goris-Kapan road 

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan will carry out passport and border control in relation to citizens of Armenia on its territory of the Goris-Kapan road. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this on November 11 before the next government meeting.

Pashinyan recalled that since August 2021, Azerbaijan began to carry  out customs administration in relation to freight transport from  Iran. "That is, it collects a customs duty on the section of Eyvazli  and Chaizami, passing through its territory, of the Goris-Kapan  highway," he explained.

As the head of government pointed out, yesterday, an unofficial  notification was received from Baku that starting from today, at  00:00, Azerbaijan will carry out border-customs control on the  Goris-Kapan section of the road, including the goods of the citizens  of the Republic of Armenia. "After receiving the notification, it was  decided to direct citizens passing through this section towards the  M2 Kapan-Aghvani- Tatev-Alidzor-Shinuair highway," the Prime Minister  said.

Pashinyan emphasized that the Tatev-Aghavni section of this  alternative road, which was practically impassable for several  decades, was commissioned after the completion of asphalting last  week. The road, as the Prime Minister pointed out, is of high  quality, he traveled along this road to Kapan and back. "I can  testify that a high-quality road has been built, which requires some  improvement for the passage of cars with a trailer," he said, adding  that despite this, he himself saw that cars with a trailer, including  those from Iran, pass freely along the road.

At the same time, as Pashinyan assured, the travel time from Yerevan  to Kapan on the new road not only did not increase, but also reduced,  taking into account the quality of the new road. In addition, repair  work is underway at the Yeraskh-Goris section. Extensive construction  work is underway at the Tatev-Ltsen, Shurnukh and Vorotan sections.  According to the Prime Minister, despite the changes in the logic of  traffic, the villages will not be cut off.

"In order to avoid further speculations," Pashinyan stressed that the  Azerbaijani customs posts are not located on the territory of  Armenia. "We are talking about the Eyvazli section," he explained,  adding that it was possible to avoid border control in relation to RA  citizens at the cost of "corridor logic, which is unacceptable for  the Armenian side." In his words, Armenia continues to deny the logic  of opening communications in the context of extraterritoriality.

The Prime Minister stressed that if necessary, the Republic of  Armenia will also establish customs and passport control points on  the Goris-Kapan road. He once again called for restraint, noting that  Armenia "needs strong nerves" to ensure long-term strategic goals.