Pashinyan: we will not give corridor to anyone across our territory

YEREVAN, September 14. /ARKA/. Armenia will not provide a corridor across its territory to Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said today during a government Q&A session in parliament.

"When it comes to our territorial integrity, we should not be particularly concerned about the opinion of others. We have stated that we will not give a corridor through our territory. In this regard, although we are not the strongest and not the biggest nation, the opinion of others is of secondary concern to us," Pashinyan said.

He said Armenia’s allies as well as the international community are also unanimous in this issue.

"There is no country that will talk to us about corridor. If there is a country that will try, we will not discuss it, because this issue is not a subject of discussion," he said.

Pashinyan drew attention to the fact that Azerbaijan referes to clause 9 of the November 9, 2020 statement (that ended hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020), in which the only corridor to be discussed is the Lachin corridor that connects Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

At the same time, he reiterated that Armenia is interested in reopening transport communications in the region.

Armenian authorities, including Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, have repeatedly denied Azerbaijani and Turkish allegations that Armenia would cede extraterritorial land corridor to Azerbaijan through its south-eastern province of Syunik which would connect Azerbaijan with its exclave Nakhichevan by rail and motor roads.

According to Pashinyan, the common understanding is that the road and the railway must be under Armenia’s control and operate under Armenian legislation. -0-