The Armenian Prime Minister's Office has responded to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's recent statements.
PM Nikol Pashinyan's spokesperson Nazeli Baghdasaryan commented on President Aliyev's speech in response to a query by Armenpress.
Armenpress: Ms. Baghdasaryan, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, speaking at an international media forum, again generated the “Zangezur corridor” narrative and stated that “Azerbaijani goods and citizens shall not be met by Armenian border service or anyone else” and that Azerbaijan views this connection route as an unimpeded and safe link between Azerbaijani territories. He claimed that this issue was raised during the meeting with the Armenian Prime Minister in Abu Dhabi. He added that there won't be “an operator, lease or rent of land” in their territory. How would you comment on this statement? What is the position of Armenia in this issue?
Baghdasaryan: The Republic of Armenia has never discussed, is not discussing, and will not discuss the terminology and subsequent logic put forth by the Azerbaijani president. The Republic of Armenia is discussing the Crossroads of Peace project with both Azerbaijan and other international partners. The Republic of Armenia also expects the unblocking of transport connections through the territory of Azerbaijan and Armenia's Syunik province and the other parts of Armenia, as well as from/toward third countries. For its part, the Republic of Armenia is ready to ensure transport connection through its territory between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, as well as from Azerbaijan towards and from third countries. This all shall take place under the principles of full adherence to the two countries' territorial integrity, sovereignty, jurisdiction and reciprocity. The Republic of Armenia has not discussed and will not discuss any other option neither on July 10 of this year in Abu Dhabi nor before or after that. The Azerbaijani President's statement that citizens of Azerbaijan shall not face the Armenian border service is beyond the logic of the discussions that took place. This is basically a concealed territorial claim against the Republic of Armenia, which cannot be acceptable and contradicts the spirit and letter of the negotiations and agreements that have taken place thus far. As Prime Minister Pashinyan said during his July 16 press conference, goods and citizens entering the territory of Armenia, including transit ones, are subject to mandatory customs and border control under internationally accepted standards. The Republic of Armenia cannot be unaware of who entered its territory and whether or not they left afterward. The compliance of the citizens and their documents can’t remain unverified, while their entry into Armenia cannot be allowed in case of incompliance. The Republic of Armenia cannot be unaware whether or not transit goods or objects have left its territory after entering, otherwise an uncontrollable source of smuggling and trafficking could emerge. The Republic of Armenia cannot be unaware of what kind of goods are passing through its territory, because, for example, if a vehicle loaded with chemical substances were to crash, our country would bear the consequences of it, and the relevant services of Armenia would be dealing with elimination of these consequences. There is no option of not meeting our country’s relevant services upon crossing the territory of the Republic of Armenia. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have a number of international obligations, for example about preventing and combating various manifestations of international crime on their territories, and countries implement such obligations through their customs and border services, among others. Therefore, Azerbaijan's statement is unclear for Armenia also in this regard. It is another matter, and PM Pashinyan stated this in his July 16 press conference: these contacts in Armenia’s border and customs points can take place with the use of modern technologies, sometimes without any contact, with biometric passports and online goods declaration and scanning. This is now a widely used format in many countries around the world. In any case, wagons passing through the territory of the Republic of Armenia shall be sealed to rule out the jettison of smuggled goods. There are also internationally accepted fees for transit. They vary for railway, pipelines and roads, also for passenger or cargo vehicles, and sometimes countries reciprocally agree on tariffs. In all cases the respective agreed-upon fees must be paid, and the state budget of the Republic of Armenia shall receive revenue from the relaunch of the transport connections. In terms of security: The Republic of Armenia itself is ensuring the security of roads, goods, vehicles and passengers passing through its territory. Additional security mechanisms have been envisaged for the connection routes envisaged in the Crossroads of Peace project, including the creation of a special division in the National Security Service of Armenia for that purpose. The Republic of Armenia is ready to ensure the transit security, for goods, transport vehicles, pipelines, cables, and of course passengers. Regarding the necessary investments for unblocking the transport connections in the two countries, each country itself decides the investment schemes suitable for itself. Prime Minister Pashinyan clearly stated during the July 16 press conference that there cannot be any investment scheme in the territory of Armenia which is beyond the territorial integrity, sovereignty and jurisdiction of Armenia.
Armenpress: Speaking about the construction of a railway on the Azerbaijani side up to the border with Armenia and Iran, President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan is about to finish the railway construction and that probably in less than a year — possibly even in the spring of next year — the Azerbaijani section of the railway will be completed. He claimed that over the past five years, no work has been done from the Armenian side, and that this issue is allegedly being deliberately removed from the agenda. According to Aliyev, in this case, 'the chances of Armenia ever becoming a transit country are almost equal to zero, and if Armenia continues to hinder the process, it will find itself not only in transport isolation but also political isolation. How would you comment on such claims made by the Azerbaijani side?
Baghdasaryan: The Government of the Republic of Armenia has been continuously making the abovementioned proposals about the unblocking of regional transport links to Azerbaijan. Furthermore, last year a new proposal was made to Azerbaijan, according to which the locomotives of Armenia, with Armenian drivers, and under the abovementioned principles, can ensure railway goods shipments between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, as well as the Syunik Province of Armenia and the other parts of Armenia. Prime Minister Pashinyan has publicly spoken about this offer during the Yerevan Dialogue forum. Azerbaijan, however, has been either ignoring or rejecting these offers. I am authorized to reaffirm Armenia’s readiness to implement all abovementioned solutions. Regarding the construction of the railway, the railway which is under construction in Azerbaijan has also domestic significance (it links Baku with Azerbaijan’s western regions). The Republic of Armenia will have a motive to construct a 42km long railway in the Syunik Province only in case of agreement with Azerbaijan, because it won’t be possible to use that railway even for Armenia’s domestic goods transportation without an agreement with Azerbaijan. Therefore, the accusations of removing the unblocking of regional connections from the agenda is unfounded. The construction of the abovementioned railway will be launched immediately after achieving agreements with Azerbaijan, while the preparatory work is already underway, such as the construction of a new road for the village of Nrnadzor, where the automobile connection is presently taking place via the former railway layer. The Republic of Armenia is interested in the unblocking of all transport routes with neighbors, and the Armenian government’s Crossroads of Peace project is a testament to that, which is presented by Armenian official representatives almost everywhere.
Armenpress: The Azerbaijani President also spoke about the peace agreement, stating that Yerevan and Baku are close to signing it. At the same time, he said that Armenian constitutional changes and the dissolution of the Minsk Group are preconditions for initialing it. Would initialing the agreement at this stage be acceptable for Armenia?
Baghdasaryan: The Armenian Prime Minister has also stated that Armenia and Azerbaijan are very close to signing the peace agreement. Regarding the dissolution of the Minsk Group mechanisms and the possible pre-signing of the peace agreement, this is an understandable agenda for the Republic of Armenia, and active discussions are now underway on the conditions where this could happen.Regarding the issue concerning the Constitution, the Prime Minister of Armenia has numerously said that he would personally initiate constitutional changes in Armenia if the Constitutional Court were to deem the peace agreement as contradicting the Constitution after its signing. There is no reason for it before that, because the Constitutional Court of Armenia, with its September 2024 decision, ruled that our Constitution does not contain any territorial claims against any country. Prime Minister Pashinyan comprehensively addressed these topics during the discussions of the 2024 action plan performance of the government’s 2021-2026 program and his speech at the Yerevan Dialogue forum.It is also well known that Prime Minister Pashinyan launched discussions about the need for adopting a new Constitution of Armenia in 2018-2020 and the issue is now in an active phase of institutional discussions. But that is a domestic Armenian agenda issue and has nothing to do with the negotiations with Azerbaijan.
Armenpress: Is the release of POWs and the issue of the missing persons discussed in the context of the signing or initialing the peace agreement?
Baghdasaryan: Prime Minister Pashinyan has said that these issues are addressed in all discussions, and the ongoing negotiations are no exception.
