Pashinyan accuses Azerbaijan of blocking communications and disrupting peace talks

Baku/28.06.22/Turan: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made several statements on June 27 accusing Azerbaijan of disrupting the peace process and opening communications. Responding to the local media, he said that an agreement had been reached with Azerbaijani President in Brussels to start building a railroad. However, Azerbaijan rejected the agreement and declined a written document.

"The statement made by the Azerbaijani President a few hours before our meeting in Brussels in April that roads running through Armenian territory should operate under the same logic as the Lachin corridor is unacceptable to us," Pashinyan said.

"The trilateral statement is clear, and it mentions only one corridor, and that is the Lachin corridor, which is under full control of Russian peacekeepers," he continued.

The Prime Minister went on accusing Azerbaijan of disrupting the bilateral meeting. "There was supposed to be a meeting on June 27 which, however, was canceled by Azerbaijan. We proposed a meeting at the level of Foreign Ministers to plan further work. At the moment we have no response," the Prime Minister said.

Ensuring uninterrupted operation of Lachin corridor is the responsibility of Russian peacekeeping forces, Pashinyan said, adding that Armenia has received assurances at the highest level that it will do so. Touching upon the construction of a new road bypassing Lachin, he said that in case the route is changed, the territories outside the former NKAR borders will come under Azerbaijan's control. He made it clear that Armenians would leave Lachin and the village of Zabukh, through which the road runs.  According to him, the route change was discussed by the parties. "Preliminary agreements have been reached. The purpose of this change is to provide a more reliable, solid connection, a better road connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. The route change should take place after Russian peacekeepers establish control over the new route," Pashinyan said.

Asked about the future peace agreement, Pashinyan replied that Baku and Yerevan "have repeatedly discussed and recorded that ideas on the peace agreement are yet to be compared and clarified in what format, at what pace and what provisions the peace agreement should include. He called Azerbaijani statements that Armenia is allegedly dragging out negotiations on a peace agreement strange.

"After these statements, the Armenian Foreign Ministry sent a proposal to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry to hold a meeting of Foreign Ministers and try to reach an agreement on further developments. In previous discussions, it was agreed that Armenian and Azerbaijani officials should keep in touch with each other and communicate in order to organize further work. However, Azerbaijan boycotted those agreements and also failed to respond to the Foreign Ministry's proposal," he said.

The Prime Minister went on to accuse Azerbaijan of derailing the bilateral meeting. "There was supposed to be a meeting on June 27, which, however, was canceled by Azerbaijan. The meeting had been planned at the level of the Secretary of the Armenian Security Council and the Azerbaijani Presidential Advisor, however, the Azerbaijani side refused," the Prime Minister said.

Official Baku has not yet commented on the Armenian leader's accusations. -02D-