At the request of Armenpress, RA Prime Minister Spokeswoman Mane Gevorgyan commented on the statement of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the Nakhichevan corridor .

– Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke about the Nakhichevan corridor, saying that it will be opened in the near future, citing a joint statement issued on 10 November. Are there any concrete agreements on opening such a corridor?

– Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan has repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the 10 November statement does not mention the corridor connecting Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan. Point 9 of the statement is about unblocking the transport and economic infrastructure of the region and in this context also establishing a transport connection between the Eastern part of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic.

Armenia, of course, is interested in the possibility of transferring Armenian cargo through the territory of Azerbaijan to the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran and vice versa. We are interested in the possibility of transporting Armenian cargo to the Russian Federation by road and rail, and to the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially by rail. In this context, naturally, Armenia is ready to ensure communication between the Eastern part of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic.

However, a full discussion of these issues will be difficult without the full implementation of Article 8 of the November 10 Joint Declaration, which provides for the exchange of prisoners, hostages, other detainees and bodies of victims. The Armenian side also considers it extremely important to expand search and rescue operations in the zone of hostilities. Recent statements by Azerbaijan on this issue are puzzling and call into question Baku’s commitment to implement the 10 November statements. There are still Armenian captives held in Baku, there is a lot of evidence of cruel and humiliating treatment of them. There is evidence of executions of prisoners and all of this evidence needs to be thoroughly investigated, including in international instances.

At the same time, anti-Armenian propaganda continues in Azerbaijan over the past decade. Provocative actions and statements must be stopped in order to establish stability and peace in the region.