Turkish FM calls for transforming Zangezur Corridor for the benefit  of all ECO members

ArmInfo.Time has come to focus all efforts on lasting peace in the South Caucasus, Turkish  Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, TurkicWorld reports.

He made the remark at the 27th meeting of the Council of Foreign  Ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization's (ECO)  participating countries under Azerbaijan's chairmanship in Shusha  city.

"We hail our Azerbaijani brothers for putting an end to a thirty-year  occupation and eliminating historical injustice. Now is the time to  focus all efforts on lasting peace, stability, and security in the  South Caucasus, which constitutes the strategic core of the ECO  geography," the minister noted.

Fidan emphasized the need to generate a certain momentum in light of  the new dynamics in the South Caucasus and to transform the Zangezur  Corridor for the benefit of all ECO members.

Proposed by the Azerbaijani side, the Zangezur corridor aims to  establish a transportation link between Azerbaijan's mainland and its  exclave, Nakhchivan, passing through Armenian territory. This  corridor emerged as part of the above-mentioned trilateral statement  signed by Azerbaijani, Armenian, and Russian leaders following the  2020 Karabakh war.

One point of the agreement outlined Armenia's commitment to ensuring  the security of transport connections to Nakhchivan, facilitating the  unrestricted movement of people, vehicles, and goods in both  directions.

In his address to the meeting President Ilham Aliyev pointed out that  Azerbaijan is also a reliable transit country, and Azerbaijan's  transportation and logistics infrastructure is available to all the  ECO nations.

"Given the increased demand for cargo shipping along the East-West  route, we aim to increase the throughput capacity of the  Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway from the current 1 million to 5 million  tons.  Furthermore, an agreement has been reached with the Islamic  Republic of Iran to use this country's territory for the construction  of a highway and a railway to ensure access to the Nakhichevan  Autonomous Republic. Simultaneously, Azerbaijan is working on  expanding the throughput capacity of the North-South transportation  corridor.

In turn, the Prime Minister of Armenia said during an interview on  October 10 that the Republic of Armenia is ready to unblock regional  communications.

"What does this mean? For example, are we ready to open roads for  Turkey and Azerbaijan. Yes, we are ready, on the basis of  sovereignty. We are told that the Tripartite Statement says that  security should be provided by Russia, but we say that this is not  true. This is a public document. Let us open the document and read  it, there is no such clause," he suggested.

Point 9 of the trilateral statement reads: 

"All economic and transport links in the region shall be unblocked.  The Republic of Armenia shall guarantee the safety of transport  communication between the western regions of the Republic of  Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic with a view to  organize the unimpeded movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo in  both directions. Control over transport communication shall be  exercised by the Border Guard Service bodies of the FSS of Russia."