ArmInfo. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan commented on the words of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev about the inevitability of the opening of the so-called <Zangezur corridor> and <the right of the Western Azerbaijan community> to return. Thus, Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with local TV channels on January 7 that Baku wants peace and cooperation in the South Caucasus, and <let them (Armenia - ed.) not interfere with us>. <They should not act as a geographical barrier between Turkey and Azerbaijan.
The Zangezur corridor must and will be opened. The sooner they understand this, the better>, - added the leader of Azerbaijan. <The Republic of Armenia has put the <Crossroads of Peace> project on the table and is preparing to implement it>, Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with the state news agency <Armenpress>.
According to him, there is no other project on Yerevan's agenda. <Crossroads of Peace> implies the opening of all transport communications in the region, including Azerbaijan-Azerbaijan through the territory of Armenia and Armenia-Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan. I have already had the opportunity to state that we have made a very specific proposal to Azerbaijan on the opening of the Yeraskh-Sadarak-Ordubad-Meghri-Zangelan railway. This is more than a proposal, this is a specific solution to specific issues, and we are waiting for a positive reaction from Azerbaijan, after which the agreement reached will be recorded on paper, and we will begin construction of our sections of the railway>, he said:
Pashinyan also touched upon Aliyev's statement yesterday that "it would be good if the Armenian Prime Minister received representatives of the Western Azerbaijani community. As far as I know, they are ready to go to Yerevan as well." It should be noted that, having emphasized that "Western Azerbaijanis were expelled from there groundlessly," the head of Azerbaijan added that "they have every right to return."
"Today, Armenia positions itself as a country following the path of European democracy. Let it clearly demonstrate this," Aliyev said, emphasizing that "this issue will not be removed from the agenda until Azerbaijanis are safely settled in Western Azerbaijan, including Western Zangezur." "Nothing new was said on this topic, and I responded to previous statements in my last interview," the Armenian Prime Minister noted.
In his previous interview, Nikol Pashinyan stated that by talking about the so-called "Western Azerbaijan", official Baku wants to objectify territorial claims against the Republic of Armenia, which are enshrined in the Constitution of Azerbaijan. "If this is not so, and we are mistaken in our ideas, then "Western Azerbaijan" should be understood as the Kazakh, Tovuz, Aghstafa, Gadabay, Dashkesan, Kelbajar, Lachin, Kubatly, Zangilan regions. Therefore, the return of people there is an internal matter of Azerbaijan, and the Armenian government has nothing to do or discuss here, except for the issues that it is already discussing with Azerbaijan. I mean the establishment of normal relations that will ensure, among other things, the security of the western borders of Azerbaijan and the eastern borders of Armenia," the head of the Armenian Cabinet said then.
Apparently, there is a misunderstanding