The Civil Contract party has received a mandate from the citizens in the early elections to usher in an era of peace for Armenia and Artsakh. Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this on 15 July during a government meeting.
He noted in particular: “That mandate entails the formation of a favourable environment around our country, the opening of regional communications, and the establishment of regional stability and lasting peace. After the early parliamentary elections, however, what we predicted has happened and is happening — namely, that there is a high probability that Azerbaijan, despite its peace-loving statements made on international platforms, will do everything to obstruct peace in the region, and will do so with a tactic that is also predictable: by showing that Armenia or Artsakh is allegedly opposed to peace, opposed to the processes of delimitation and demarcation of borders, and against this background will create false justifications for building an aggressive (offensive) policy, the manifestations of which we have seen in recent days, but which we have also seen in recent months.
In particular, the working group operating at the level of the deputy prime ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan is carrying out quite constructive and effective work regarding the opening of regional communications, and Azerbaijan’s incomprehensible statements about the so-called Zangezur corridor have no connection whatsoever with the work done by the working group, and, more importantly, with the content of the 11 January Moscow trilateral statement, which clarifies what the 9th point of the 9 November trilateral statement means and how it should be implemented.
My interpretation is unequivocal: Azerbaijan is making statements about the corridor in order to disrupt the activities of the trilateral working group and to prevent the opening of regional communications. Why? Because Azerbaijan’s goal is to continue its policy of blockading Armenia for nearly 30 years. But we will continue our work in the trilateral working group without wavering, in the direction of breaking Armenia’s blockade, and with the support of Russia and our international partners we will achieve the opening of regional communications, that is, the unblocking of Armenia.”
