Armenia Has Never Agreed to Relinquish its Territorial Integrity, Pashinyan Says of Baku Demand for ‘Corridor’

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday said that his government has never agreed to relinquish Armenia’s territorial integrity for a road connecting Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan.

He made the argument in an article he penned for the state-run Armenpress news agency. Pashinyan said it was “unclear” why Azerbaijan continued to reject Yerevan’s proposal, conjecturing that perhaps Baku was using the issue of land “corridor” to escalate the situation along the border.

“It is unclear why these proposals are being rejected by Azerbaijan,” Pashinyan wrote. “I hope not for creating a false pretext for escalation.”

Azerbaijan has demanded—and at times threatened—that Armenia must open a so-called corridor through its territory for a direct connection to Nakhichevan.

“Armenia has never undertaken any obligation, written or oral, or agreed or even hinted that it might agree to any limitation of its sovereignty, jurisdiction, or territorial integrity, including on the issue of transport routes from western Azerbaijan to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic via the territory of the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan said in the article.

“If Baku’s concern is to ensure reliable cargo transportation to and from Nakhichevan, that issue is resolved,” Pashinyan said. “All that remains is for Azerbaijan to say yes.”

The prime minister emphasized that, on numerous occasions, he and his government have said that Armenia will ensure the safety of cargo or passenger transit through its territories.

Official Baku claims that Armenia not agreeing to a so-called “corridor” is a violation of the November 9, 2020 agreement that ended the military operations in the Artsakh War. Yerevan has countered that such a provision does not exist in the document, which calls for opening of transportation links between the two countries.

“I wish to once again officially state that Armenia has never undertaken any obligation, written or oral, or agreed or even hinted that the provision of safety on its own territory, including safety for international or Azerbaijani passenger or cargo transportation, should or could be outsourced to another country. There has been no such thing, there simply is no such thing. On the contrary, Armenia has undertaken to guarantee the safety of passage, which we are ready to do,” Pashinyan wrote.

“It should be emphasized that Armenia has no unilateral obligations. Both sides have undertaken to open all transport and economic routes to each other. Today, no transport or economic routes of Azerbaijan are open to Armenia or to those passing through Armenia—no roads, railways, pipelines, electricity lines, or cables,” Pashinyan added.

“All roads in Armenia are open to Azerbaijan. Back in 2022, the Government of Armenia circulated a draft decree on opening three border points on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, which would enable Azerbaijan’s cargo and passenger vehicles to enter the territory of Armenia and to travel, for example, to Nakhchivan and Turkey,” Pashinyan said.

He added that the decrees in question were not adopted because of Azerbaijan’s continued rejection.

Pashinyan also touched on Azerbaijan’s declarations that if Armenia does not provide a road to Nakhichevan then Baku will secure the route through Iran.

“Also let’s be clear, we affirm that the Republic of Armenia is ready to provide passage from western Azerbaijan to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic under the same legal conditions as those offered by Iran,” Pashinyan said.