Armenia has never discussed and will not discuss the kind of options of transport links that would be incompatible with its own territorial integrity, sovereignty and jurisdiction, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s spokesperson Nazeli Baghdasaryan said in a statement, reiterating Yerevan’s position.
She made the comments in response to what she described as a “confusion” in the media about the matter.
“It is evident that there is some confusion in the Armenian media about Armenia’s position regarding the unblocking of regional transport links, and the media outlets see some contradictions in the statements of Armenian officials. To some extent, this is understandable, because the topic has numerous nuances, which sometimes get more complicated with the use of certain wordings, such as rental, leasing, building lease, outsourcing. Certainly, each of the wordings can have different meaning depending on what specifically it pertains to.In order to make the issue easier for the esteemed representatives of the press, I’d like to once again underscore that the Republic of Armenia has never discussed, doesn’t discuss and will not discuss the kind of options of transport links passing through its own territory that would be incompatible with the territorial integrity, sovereignty and jurisdiction of the Republic of Armenia.
And furthermore, within the framework of territorial integrity, sovereignty and jurisdiction, the Republic of Armenia is not only discussing various formulas of utilizing regional transport routes, but is also eager to achieve an agreement around any of the formulas.
Representatives of Armenia who say that Armenia has never discussed, doesn’t discuss and will not discuss, are definitely speaking about the kind of formulas which are incompatible with the territorial integrity, sovereignty and jurisdiction of Armenia. Representatives of Armenia who speak about discussions refer to formulas within the framework of Armenia’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and jurisdiction, building lease and so on, which Prime Minister Pashinyan spoke about in his July 16 press conference.
Certainly, Armenia’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and jurisdiction cannot be outsourced. The business management of the railway, pipeline, power transmission lines can be. By the way, the maintenance and management of roads in Armenia has always been outsourced to private companies in Armenia. Who is managing at what quality is another matter. But this has nothing to do with the discussed topic.
