Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said Wednesday, September 6 that Baku has a “Plan B” regarding the establishment of the so-called “Zangezur corridor”, suggesting that the project can be implemented without Armenian participation, TASS reports.
Azerbaijan and Turkey have on multiple occasions raised the question about the Zangezur "corridor" through the southern Armenian province of Syunik that would connect Nakhijevan to the rest of Azerbaijan. The Armenian side, however, has repeatedly denied being involved in negotiations for the provision of a corridor to Azerbaijan, stressing that they have only agreed to unblock transport communications in the region.
“At some point, there is a feeling that we are close to completing the work [on the opening of the Zangezur corridor], when suddenly, at the last moment, Armenia unexpectedly puts forward something new, which again brings the process to a dead end,” Bayramov said in an interview with the state news agency AzerTag and the publication Magyar Demokrata during his visit to Hungary.
“This is not constructive, in addition it also violates the corresponding paragraph of the tripartite statement (of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia dated November 9, 2020 – Ed.), according to which Armenia committed itself to guaranteeing the unimpeded movement of goods, citizens and vehicles.”
According to the minister, such an approach could lead to Yerevan missing another profitable opportunity to improve the country's economy, since “the road may simply bypass Armenia.” “Azerbaijan will continue to work in this direction, having a “plan B”. And for it, the project will be implemented even without the participation of Armenia, but in this case it will simply fall out of the number of beneficiaries,” the head of the Azerbaijani foreign policy department emphasized.
Bayramov emphasized that the Zangezur corridor is one of the elements of the East-West transport corridor. “Experts estimate that the Zangezur corridor could add an additional 5-8 million tons of cargo to the Middle Corridor. This is a great benefit not only for Azerbaijan and Armenia, but also for other countries,” he added.
