Armenia offers opening transport link that would include Azerbaijan and Turkey
- 29 October, 14:23
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has offered the opening of a new road that would connect his country to neighbouring Azerbaijan and Turkey. Armenia’s borders with both countries have remained closed since the First Karabakh War in the 1990s.
Addressing the Tbilisi Silk Road Forum in Georgia on Thursday, Pashinyan said the proposed corridor would serve as an “important part of the peace agenda”.
Pashinyan said that the project implies the development of communications between Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Iran by means of renovating, building, and operating roads, railways, pipelines, cables, and electricity lines.
“Without roads it will be very difficult to build peace,” Pashinyan said, stressing that “The roads with two of our neighbors are closed, which is clearly telling of existing difficulties in the relationships.” Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov who was representing his country during the forum, said that “Azerbaijan had been working on opening communication links for a long time,” without further delving into Pashinyan's proposal.
Pashinyan first hinted at the proposed transport project during his speech in the European Parliament on October 17. Later, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, he stressed that regional transport projects must be carried out in line with the country’s sovereignty and jurisdiction, in an apparent reference to Azerbaijan’s earlier demands for the Zangazur Corridor through Armenia’s territory.
In his Tbilisi Silk Road Forum speech, Pashinyan reiterated his remarks about mutual recognition of Azerbaijan and Armenia’s territorial integrity. Furthermore, he expressed hope that there would be development in the opening of the Turkish-Armenia border for citizens of third countries.
