He insisted that a trilateral working group formed by the Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani governments about a year ago has only discussed and largely agreed on conventional cross-border transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They include a railway and road that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan via Armenian territory.
“We will ensure the opening of transport links and we are very interested in that,” Pashinian told the Armenian parliament. “All parties to the trilateral working group reached a corresponding agreement.”
“So it is our common understanding that the road and the railway must be under Armenia’s control and operate under Armenian legislation … This is the official view of the Republic of Armenia,” he said during his government’s question-and-answer session in the National Assembly.
Aliyev, Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin reported major progress towards opening the transport links after holding talks in the Russian city of Sochi on November 26. Putin said the Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani working group will formalize in the coming days “decisions which we agreed today.”
However, the group co-headed by deputy prime ministers of the three states announced no agreements after meeting in Moscow on December 1.
On Monday, Aliyev renewed his threats to forcibly open a land “corridor” to Nakhichevan. “Tell us when the Zangezur corridor will be opened and there will be no problems,” he said, recalling Azerbaijan’s actions during last year’s war over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry condemned the threats and said they run counter to understandings reached at Sochi.
Armenia - Deputy Prime Minister or Armenia Mher Grigorian.
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian said on Tuesday that Aliyev’s remarks came as a surprise for Yerevan because the trilateral task force was due to meet again for further discussions on the issue.
“I hope that the situation will return to the constructive path and we will continue to work within the framework of the basic principles that were already agreed upon,” Grigorian told the Russian TASS news agency.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan appeared to have raised Aliyev’s threats with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a phone call on Wednesday. The Armenian Foreign Ministry cited Mirzoyan as saying that “the Azerbaijani leadership’s bellicose statements and threats to use force seriously endanger regional peace and stability.”
Visiting Yerevan on November 5, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said the task force has agreed that Armenia and Azerbaijan will “retain sovereignty over roads passing through their territory.” The Russian Foreign Ministry also reported such an agreement.
Armenian opposition leaders regularly speculate that Pashinian had pledged to make more concessions to Baku through verbal agreements reached with Aliyev. The prime minister again dismissed such claims when he answered a question asked by an opposition lawmaker on Wednesday.