Pashinyan considers it unacceptable to draw parallels between Lachin  corridor and road opening between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan through  RA territory 

ArmInfo.On March 31, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated at a government meeting that it is inadmissible to draw parallels between the Lachin corridor and the road opening between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan through the territory  of the Republic of Armenia.

According to Pashinyan, Baku distorts paragraph 9 of the tripartite  statement of November 9, 2020 on the restoration of transport and  economic communications in the region, the launch of a road  connecting the western regions of Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan. "You  know that Armenia has come up with comprehensive proposals on this  topic. Without going into details, I will say that the essence of our  proposal is as follows: reconstruct the  Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway, reopen or build a  highway that will connect the western regions of Azerbaijan with  Nakhichevan, by exercising border, customs and other control at  border crossings," he recalled.

According to the prime minister, Baku accepts and rejects this  position of the Armenian side at the same time. "They say they agree  with any legal regime for the operation of this road, but the same  regime should operate in the Lachin corridor, and in support of this  position they refer to the statement of November 9," he said.

According to Pashinyan, this statement is unfounded for two reasons.   "Firstly, in the November 9 statement, there is no mention of any  corridor other than Lachin. The Lachin corridor is not only a  corridor, but also a 5 km wide area, which is under the control of  Russian peacekeepers, and this is enshrined in a tripartite  statement. There is no any clause on control over any  part of  Armenia by another country," he said.

As the prime minister pointed out, it is strange to draw parallels  between Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhichevan for several reasons.   "Firstly, Nakhichevan has land communication with Azerbaijan through  the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey, air communication - through  the airspace of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey and the Republic  of Armenia. And Nagorno-Karabakh has only land communication with  Armenia - only through the Lachin corridor, and make the Lachin  corridor in any way controlled by Azerbaijan means one thing: the  expulsion of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh," Pashinyan explained.

Thus, as the head of the RA government stressed, comparing the Lachin  corridor with a road that will be opened through the territory of  Armenia is unacceptable, the statement of November 9 does not  envisage the existence of any corridor through the territory of  Armenia, and Armenia has not accepted and will not accept any  corridor logic.

At the same time, Nikol Pashinyan once again announced his readiness  to open a railway and a highway within the framework of the proposals  of the Armenian side. "But we consider it necessary to sign a de jure  agreement with Azerbaijan. Why? Because we see a very specific risk  when Armenia builds both a road and a railway, and Azerbaijan refuses  to open the border. And it turns out that neither Armenia, nor  Azerbaijan, nor third countries will not be able to use the  infrastructure that requires investments of several hundred million  dollars, and Armenia will simply lose several hundred million  dollars. What do we propose today? We propose to open the railway in  2021. De jure agreements reached in Brussels on December 14 2012,  coordinate the parameters of the railway and start construction, or  do it in a package, including the highway, and we are ready to do it  as soon as Azerbaijan responds positively to our proposals," the  prime minister said. According to him, the proposals were submitted  to international partners, who considered them logical, acceptable,  meeting the interests of all countries in the region.