Pashinyan: Azerbaijan is obstructing efforts aimed at reopening of regional transport links
YEREVAN, July 15. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused today the Azerbaijani leadership of deliberately obstructing efforts aimed at reopening of transport links between the two countries and demarcating and delimiting their state border.
Speaking at a government meeting Pashinyan said Armenian predicted that contrary to international community’s calls to establish peace in the region, Azerbaijan would do everything to impede them, and to accuse Armenia and Artsakh of being against peace, against demarcation and delimitation of the border.
‘Against this background Azerbaijan is creating false grounds for an aggressive policy which has been manifested in recent days and recent months," Pashinyan said.
According to Pashinyan, the Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani working group, set up by the leaders of the three countries and led by vice-prime ministers is quite effective doing a lot of work towards reopening of transport links
Pashinyan said incomprehensible statements made by Azerbaijani leadership about the so-called "Zangezur corridor" are incompatible with the activities of the working group and more importantly, with the trilateral statement signed in Moscow on January 11 by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan said the goal of Azerbaijan is to continue the already 30-year long blockade of Armenia.
‘However, we are going to continue the work within the framework of the trilateral group to break the blockade and with the assistance of Russian and international partners, we will achieve this goal," he noted.
Pashinyan also accused Azerbaijan of opposing the demarcation and delimitation of the state border. ‘Azerbaijan presents obviously falsified maps trying to justify the incursion of its troops into the sovereign territory of Armenia," Pashinyan said .
He recalled that both the international community and the Republic of Armenia clearly expressed their attitude on this issue -Azerbaijani troops must withdraw from these territories. Besides, both the Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces must pull back from the border to their permanent deployment sites, Russian border guards and / or international observers must be deployed on the border, which is to be followed by delimitation and demarcation of the border under the auspices of the international community.
"This proposal remains in force. We, with our partners, in particular, with Russia, continue to work in this direction, while Azerbaijan has not responded in any way to our proposal," Pashinyan stated.
The day before, according to mass media reports, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that "Azerbaijan is ready to sign a peace agreement with Armenia, and that both countries should recognize each other’s territorial integrity and then start border demarcation and delimitation.
Earlier, Aliyev stated that "a new transport corridor will pass through the historical Azerbaijani territory of Zangezur (Syunik region of Armenia), connecting the main part of Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan and Turkey."
He called Zangezur, Gegharkunik (a region in eastern Armenia) and Yerevan "historical territories of Azerbaijan" and promised to "return there." - 0--
