Aliyev reveals what corridor he demands from Pashinyan

Again and again, we have to state that we have been existing in a reality in which issues related to Armenia and Artsakh are often covered earlier in the Azerbaijani and Turkish press than the current authorities inform the Armenian people about them. Erdogan and Aliyev demonstrate repeatedly that they are much more honest with the Armenian public than Nikol Pashinyan. This is exactly what happened the day before with the issue of the so-called “corridor” through the territory of Armenia. An explanation was given by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who said that the issue of the “corridor” was discussed with Pashinyan as part of the negotiations in Brussels.

“Armenia now has two options. First, it must immediately build a 42-kilometer railway at its own expense or with money from European funds. We consider this our sovereign territory, and we do not have any concessions about sovereignty. However, there should be free access to Nakhichevan (ed.) from Azerbaijan. In this regard, there should be no customs duties, checks, or border guard procedures. (By the way, note that in the past, Pashinyan also spoke about this, but according to him, official Baku had problems with Azerbaijani passengers and cargo being inspected by Armenian border guards, while the situation was completely different and Aliyev’s demands were different). This is our legal right,” Aliyev said at an international conference in Baku. As an example of such a project, he cited a railway line from the main part of Russia to the city of Kaliningrad. Let us note again that, according to Aliyev, he discussed this project with Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels, but Yerevan is blocking it. It was then that Baku began to implement an alternative route from Iran.

Aliyev basically revealed the essence of Azerbaijan’s demands to Nikol Pashinyan—a corridor through the territory of Armenia and no customs duties, checks, or border guard procedures for Azerbaijani cargo.

Note that when Aliyev says that “there should be no border guard procedures,” this means that the requirements of official Baku directly contradict the provisions of the document dated November 9, 2020. At the same time, Aliyev entrusted the “honorable role” of squeezing Russia out of this regional transport and communication project to Pashinyan, who unleashed enormous anti-Russian hysteria in Armenia, preparing public opinion for the complete withdrawal of the Russian military presence from Armenia. This presence impedes the interests of Azerbaijan, which demands a “corridor without border guards,” that is, without the border troops of the Federal Security Service of Russia in Armenia. By making a geopolitical U-turn, Pashinyan only actually ensures the accomplishment of the strategic goal of official Baku.

Now do you understand why anti-Russian hysteria has developed in the country? Now do you understand why public opinion is purposefully manipulated, and they continue to do this even after the fall of our Artsakh?
Another important nuance in Aliyev’s statement was that providing Azerbaijan with a de facto extraterritorial corridor through Armenia was discussed at a trilateral meeting on the Western negotiation platform. This issue, which is part of the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization, is also part of the Western model of a “peace treaty”. It was not enough that, at the Western negotiating platform, Pashinyan, without any guarantees for the Armenians of Artsakh, surrendered the second Armenian Republic to Azerbaijan; he also negotiated on providing Azerbaijan with an extraterritorial corridor.

In the spring of 2022, Pashinyan’s family newspaper “Haykakan Zhamanak” published articles in which the author, claimed as a “reliable source,” spoke about Azerbaijan and Russia’s demands from Armenia. The author stated that Moscow wants to leave the status of Artsakh uncertain, to control the road passing through Syunik to Nakhijevan, and, finally, to annex Armenia to the Russian-Belarusian union state.

Less than an hour after the publication, the press secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, refuted the information, especially emphasizing that Moscow does not intend to annex Armenia to the union state of Russia and Belarus. Neither Pashinyan nor his “reliable source” subsequently refuted Peskov, which confirmed that Pashinyan again manipulated public opinion. Moreover, during the same period, the same “reliable source” promised to tell what the West demanded from Armenia. However, even here, that someone associated with Pashinyan did not fulfill their promises, and the West’s demands to Armenia remained secret to the Armenian public.
The essence of the negotiations remained a secret until Aliyev revealed it: negotiations were actually underway in the West on providing Azerbaijan with an extraterritorial corridor through the territory of the Republic of Armenia, and, judging by Aliyev’s impudent tone, the West was even ready to finance this project.

So, Aliyev can easily be included among the authors in Pashinyan’s family newspaper, but this does not make the situation in Armenia any better…