Armenia is ready to unblock regional communications with Azerbaijan, but it won’t provide a transport corridor to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through its territory, said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, speaking at the National Assembly.

“As part of the operation of the trilateral working group, we have a serious opportunity to break the blockade of Armenia. This is a rather complicated process, which is further complicated by provocative statements by Baku about some corridors. I repeat once again, there is no talk of a corridor through Armenia in the statements of November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021,” the Armenian prime minister said.

In his words, “just like Armenia should get a road to the Russian Federation and Iran through the territory of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan should get a road through the territory of Armenia for communications with its region.”

Let’s consider this statement by Nikol Pashinyan for reliability, especially since it is periodically voiced in one context or another.

Firstly, the case is about a transport artery with a length of 40 km, which must pass through the Syunik region (Zangezur) of Armenia in order to connect the western regions of Azerbaijan with its exclave - the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, located in the depths of the Armenian territory.

The opening of the Corridor is spelled out in the trilateral statement of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the President of the Russian Federation dated November 10 last year, signed following the Second Karabakh War.

Paragraph 9 of the document reads as follows: “All economic and transport links in the region shall be restored. The Republic of Armenia guarantees the safety of transport links between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in order to organize an unhindered movement of citizens, vehicles and goods in both directions. Control over transport shall be exercised by the bodies of the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia. By agreement of the Parties, the construction of new transport communications linking the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic with the western regions of Azerbaijan shall be ensured.”

The second agreement, adopted on January 11, 2021, is aimed at the implementation of the ninth paragraph, which requires unblocking all communications in the region, including the transport infrastructure, the transport corridor to Nakhchivan. Following the negotiations, a trilateral document was signed.

On January 30, Deputy Prime Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia Alexei Overchuk, Shahin Mustafayev and Mher Grigoryan held the first meeting of the trilateral working group in Moscow. They considered the main areas of joint work, in particular, related to the implementation of paragraph 9 of the statement dated November 10.

The issue of creating the Zangezur corridor, in fact, is enshrined in two interstate documents signed personally by Nikol Pashinyan and is the subject of negotiations, with the participation of his deputy Mher Grigoryan.

By the way, at the end of March, Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan, a member of the trilateral working group on the opening of communications, said that Armenia and Azerbaijan, through the mediation of the Russian Federation, are discussing unblocking all communications that existed in Soviet times. “In essence, we are discussing the possibility of unblocking all communications in force in Soviet times,” he said.

Grigoryan also said that the joint working group on unblocking communications was supposed to present the first results by the end of March, but the date has changed, as additional expert work is to be done. “The main discussions are about the resumption of transport and railway communication,” he added.

These words of Mher Grigoryan refute Nikol Pashinyan’s above statements about the absence of the corridor through Meghri on the agenda. There is no doubt that the work of the group stalled precisely because of the issue of restoring the Zangezur corridor, which functioned on this territory during the Soviet period and was destroyed by the Armenians during the years of occupation.

Secondly, the Armenian media regularly issue publications against the Zangezur corridor, where they try to prove that paragraph 9 of the November 10 statement doesn’t provide for this corridor. The Armenian side is trying to give a different meaning to the wording “transport communications linking the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic with the western regions of Azerbaijan.” Armenia is trying to prove that the case isn’t about the corridor and the restoration of this corridor, but about the creation of new transport links. Though the wording “transport communications linking the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic with the western regions of Azerbaijan” is quite specific and leaves no room for further interpretation. Moreover, the first sentence of this paragraph, as well as the next trilateral statement dated January 11, 2021 says precisely about unblocking (restoring) transport links. Naturally, there was a transport route between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the wording ‘restoration of all transport communications,’ which is present in the statement, includes it.

For example, “transport communications linking the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic with the western regions of Azerbaijan” implies a railway line operating before the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia. This is a railway passing through the Meghri region of Armenia to the Ordubad region of Nakhchivan. The restoration of the 43 km long corridor passing through Meghri means the revival of the historic Alat-Mindjevan-Julfa railway line with a total length of 445 km, which was gradually put into operation in 1936-1941.

The railway line passing through Meghri was closed as a result of Armenia’s territorial claims to Azerbaijan and the subsequent military aggression on its part. It is safe to say that since 1991 the section of the Alat-Julfa road passing through Meghri has ceased its activity. Then, as a result of the occupation of Fuzuli, Jabrayil and Zangilan regions by Armenia, 144 km of the Azerbaijan railway Horadiz-Ordubad (including 43.4 km along the territory of Meghri) came under the control of Armenia.

During the occupation, the Armenians completely destroyed the railway line, including the tracks and infrastructure on the territory of Meghri.

At the same time, the Armenians, giving a different meaning to the wording “transport communications linking the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic with the western regions of Azerbaijan,” for some reason forget that there is no other transport route in the region connecting Western Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan. That is, the restoration of the transport corridor, means, first of all, the recovery of the aforementioned line and infrastructure. The Azerbaijani side has already started preliminary work.

Thus, there is an agreement on the construction of a railway and a road to Nakhchivan. It is spelled out in a trilateral statement dated November 10 and is on the agenda of a trilateral working group at the level of deputy prime ministers of the governments of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia.

Taking into account all the above-mentioned facts, it is safe to say that the statement of the Armenian prime minister that there is no talk of a corridor through Armenia in the statements dated November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021, is an obvious lie.