Pashinyan on the new road to NK
New road in the Lachin corridor
“Azerbaijani media are trying to present what happened as a kind of blockbuster. This approach is unconstructive,” the Prime Minister of Armenia said, commenting on the situation around the change in the route of the Lachin corridor.
At night, the Azerbaijani armed forces blocked the road from the Armenian city of Goris to the capital of the unrecognized NKR between the villages of Agavno (Zabukh) and Tekh. This has created new difficulties for Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross delivering humanitarian supplies to the blockaded region. Now their cars will have to drive on a dirt road.
“According to the agreement with the Azerbaijani side, this route was to operate until April 1, 2023,” Pashinyan said.
It is reported that the Tekh-Kornidzor dirt road in Syunik region, bypassing the closed highway, is already ready for operation. It adjoins the Kornidzor-Hin Shen (Kichik Galaderesi) road, that is, the Lachin corridor, which has been in operation since August 2022. Asphalt works on the part of Armenia continue.
Pashinyan recalled that Azerbaijan not only continues its blockade of the Lachin corridor, but also “carried out another invasion of the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh“, i.e. the advance of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces deep into the territory of NK on March 25. Thus, he emphasized that Azerbaijan is now “aggravating the situation in NK even more, blocking internal transport routes.”
“There have been no changes in Armenian positions”
“Azerbaijan is not only not complying with the decision of the International Court of Justice [to ensure unimpeded traffic along the Lachin corridor], but is aggravating the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh by taking steps aimed at blocking internal transport routes. From the height of 20/54, Azerbaijan took under direct observation the dirt road connecting Stepanakert with the villages of Hin Shen, Mets Shen and several other villages,” Pashinyan said at a government meeting.
According to him, Azerbaijan justifies its actions by the alleged transfer of military cargo and personnel from Armenia to NK, but this “does not correspond to reality.”
Pashinyan considers this “a propaganda lie, the purpose of which is to legitimize a possible escalation.”
The prime minister announced that “no changes have taken place in the Armenian positions.” He explained that the previous temporary road passed through the territory of Azerbaijan, and the new one will pass only through the territory of Armenia. The difference is that instead of units of the Ministry of Defense, border troops will be stationed there.
According to him, Azerbaijan was also asked to consider the possibility of deploying border guards there. He hopes that this process “will pass without provocation.”
As for the military units of the unrecognized republic, Pashinyan called the existence of the Defense Army a “well-known fact”:
“The existence and activity of this army is justified by the obvious preparation of Azerbaijan for genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Lachin corridor has been blocked for more than a hundred days, gas and energy supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh have been stopped, citizens and agricultural equipment carrying out agricultural work are periodically fired upon by Azerbaijanis, and the aggressive rhetoric of Azerbaijan continues.”
“We hope that there will be concrete progress in the negotiation formats”
The prime minister reaffirmed Armenia’s commitment to the peace agenda and expressed hope that concrete changes would take place in the near future “both in the negotiation format of Stepanakert-Baku and Armenia-Azerbaijan.” He reiterated that Armenia is ready for this.
“We hope that a similar position will be from both Baku and Stepanakert in the Stepanakert-Baku format. It is clear that appropriate international mechanisms and guarantees are extremely important for this,” he said.
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New route of the Lachin corridor
