Armenia Won’t Cede Any Route to Anyone: Ambassador

Armenia’s ambassador to Iran refuted the Republic of Azerbaijan’s idea for the so-called ‘Zangezur’ corridor, emphasizing that his country won’t allow any third party to use its soil to establish any route.

In an interview with Tasnim, Arsen Avagyan lashed out at the Republic of Azerbaijan for proposing the idea of the so-called Zangezur corridor while Yerevan and Baku have not signed any document in this regard.

Armenia has made it clear several times that it won’t allow any third country to use any route on its soil and has not made any commitment to such an issue, he stated.

The envoy stressed that Armenia remains committed only to the contents of a trilateral statement signed on November 9, 2020, about securing safe land connections between the western parts of the Azerbaijan Republic and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

To that end, Avagyan added, a number of border crossings have been set up along the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. “As mentioned by the prime minister of Armenia, the Azeri citizens can now use these routes to travel to Nakhchivan and vice versa.”

Asked about the ceasefire between Yerevan and Baku and the latest political and legal conditions in the Caucasus, the envoy said Armenia has repeatedly expressed its readiness to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan and start the process of demarcation of boundaries.

Despite the international community’s explicit recommendation for the establishment of peace, Azerbaijan has always launched new schemes instead of carrying out the previous agreements, the ambassador stated.

He said the Azeri schemes have since May 2021 resulted in the occupation of large pieces of land that are within the borders under the sovereignty of Armenia.