The two sides have until now disagreed on practical modalities of doing that, with Azerbaijan demanding an extraterritorial corridor to its Nakhichevan exclave that would pass through Armenia. The latter has insisted on having full control over that would-be road and railway.
Pashinian indicated on Wednesday he and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made major progress towards an agreement on the issue at their last meeting held in the Russian city of Kazan late last month. Yerevan sent a relevant fresh proposal to Baku after the meeting, he told the Armenian parliament.
“It very much looks like that we may have a solution on the issue of opening regional transport links that can be mutually acceptable,” Pashinian said without going into details.
Sargis Khandanian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on foreign relations, likewise told journalists on Friday that such a deal is “possible.”
“When we receive a response [from Baku] that ‘possible’ may materialize,” said Khandanian. He too did not disclose the latest Armenian proposal.
Meanwhile, Bayramov did not echo those upbeat statements and said instead that Yerevan has yet to honor its “obligations” stemming from a Russia-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. He did not comment on the proposal made by Yerevan.
“We consider the phrase ‘agreement was reached’ uttered after three and a half years of discussions as overdue,” the Azerbaijani minister said, commenting on Pashinian’s statement. “The agreement should have been reached long ago. If there is no agreement on this issue, if Armenia has not begun work in this direction, then there are still open issues.”
The Azerbaijani leadership has said, at least until now, that people and cargo transported to and from Nakhichevan through Armenia’s Syunik province must be exempt from Armenian border checks. Yerevan has countered that the 2020 truce accord does not provide for such an extraterritorial arrangement.
Speaking ahead of the Kazan talks with Aliyev, Pashinian suggested that Baku rejects conventional transport links between the two countries because it has “aggressive intentions towards Armenia.” The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry denied the claim.
Syunik is the only Armenian province bordering Iran. This explains why Tehran is strongly opposed to the “Zangezur corridor” sought by Baku.
Incidentally, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan spoke with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi by phone on Thursday. Official Armenian and Iranian readouts of the call did not mention the corridor issue.
“Both parties agreed to maintain ongoing consultations to enhance bilateral relations and coordinate on regional issues,” said the Iranian Foreign Ministry.