Pashinyan is Wrong: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Continues to Use the Wording “Zangezur Corridor”

During the November 11 interview with Public Television, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that, contrary to the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, the Foreign Ministry of that country did not mention the phrase “Zangezur Corridor” in the latest statement, assuming that the statement was for the “external audience,” while Aliyev speaks for the domestic audience. Moreover, Pashinyan presents this as an implication of his latest speech.

“…I think yesterday’s speech served its purpose, in the sense that today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan made a statement, and what do they accuse us of in that statement? They accuse us of aborting the establishment of connection between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan. Why is this important? To show that despite the fact that the President of Azerbaijan develops in his speech, constantly talks about the promised corridor, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not use the word “corridor” anymore…” Nikol Pashinyan stated.

Pashinyan referred to the statement of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry in response to his statements made during the government session on November 9.

However, Pashinyan’s claim that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan did not include the wording “Zangezur Corridor” in its statement is wrong.

“Zangezur Corridor” is mentioned in both the Azerbaijani and English texts of the statement.

“Regarding the totally false interpretation of the well-known provision of the Trilateral Statement and groundless claims of the Prime Minister of Armenia regarding Zangezur Corridor, we note that the Zangezur Corridor refers to the restoration of the historical connection between Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, and this implies the use of the said corridor for peaceful and humanitarian purposes,” reads the statement of the Foreign Ministry.

The passage quoted by Pashinyan about “aborting” the issue of opening communications by Armenia, is written just two paragraphs before the text about “Zangezur Corridor.”

To sum up, let us note that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan used the wording “Zangezur Corridor” in a number of previous statements as well.

Ani Avetisyan