Two articles in the Armenia-Azerbaijan draft peace treaty not yet agreed upon – PM

There are two articles in the draft peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan on which agreement has not yet been reached, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).

 - Considering the challenges associated with the transit route from Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan, please tell us what is Armenia’s general policy regarding this route, why has it not been signed yet, and what red lines exist in Armenia?

- You are aware that we have developed the “Crossroads of Peace” project, which is largely about unblocking all transport routes and economic ties in our region. The reopening of the railway between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a very important topic in this context. And, of course, in this context, the restoration of the railway connection from Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan, that is, or from Western Azerbaijan through the territory of the Republic of Armenia to Nakhichevan and from the Republic of Armenia to Azerbaijan, or rather, through the territory of Nakhichevan to Armenia, are also important.

Did I manage to present clearly? from Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan through the territory of Armenia and from Armenia to Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan. And we, quite recently, made a very specific proposal to Azerbaijan to solve this issue, and in the first stage we are talking about the implementation of railway cargo transportation. Of course, we believe that this issue should be solved with respect for the territorial integrity, jurisdiction and sovereignty of the countries. And the solution that we have proposed, we believe, fully satisfies this condition.

In addition, it is very important that it also meets the condition of carrying out full, complete cargo transportation, that is, these cargo transportations are carried out without obstacles, etc., and so on. Of course, the nuance here is that today there is a connection from Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan through the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we also say that in essence, our ideas are such that the conditions that the Islamic Republic of Iran offers to Azerbaijan, we are also ready to offer the same conditions, of course, taking into account the peculiarity that in this case it is not only about railway cargo transportation from Azerbaijan through the territory of Armenia to Azerbaijan, but also from Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan.

We are also ready to make certain simplifications, of course, on the principle of reciprocity. But here it is very important to also note what will happen in the event of the implementation of this project. This will also have a very positive impact on Armenia-Iran relations, because in this context it means that both Azerbaijan and Armenia will be able to use each other's territories for international railway freight transportation.

You know that if these communication routes are opened, we will have an Armenia-Iran railway, which will significantly deepen our economic relations. And at the same time, Azerbaijan will have the opportunity to have full-fledged railway freight transportation through the territory of the Republic of Armenia to Turkey and vice versa, which means that both Armenia and Azerbaijan will be fully integrated into the international railway network. But at the same time, I want to say again, this will also significantly deepen trade and economic relations between Iran and Armenia.

When I say that for the Islamic Republic of Iran, the route through Armenia to the west might be the shortest and most convenient, currently we don't have the possibility of implementing railway transportation. The issue of constructing a railway between Armenia and Iran has been discussed for a long time, but due to the terrain, such a railway would require extremely large investments, and under current conditions, there is no substantiation that potential cargo transportation, even in the long run, would compensate for those expenses. However, with the implementation of the ''Crossroads of Peace'' project, we would have a railway connection to the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and we could connect the Islamic Republic of Iran through Armenia's territory to the Black Sea and further west.

This is a very important project, and I want to emphasize that we are very active and seriously committed to its implementation, including routes from Azerbaijan's western regions through Armenia to Nakhichevan and from Armenia to Meghri from Yeraskh. At the same time, I want to highlight the key international context. Today, there is a global transportation crisis, also related to the situation around Ukraine. Enormous volumes of cargo are waiting for the opportunity to flow from west to east, from north to south. If these regional transportation and economic communications open, the cargo volume would be so large that infrastructure in Armenia, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey would not be sufficient to serve the entire flow. This also provides a great opportunity to think about new infrastructure projects for regional cooperation.

-Some countries have expressed some opinion that third countries should monitor the roads at this crossroads or that it should be done by the UN. What is your opinion, how do you assess it?

 - If we interpret the principles I mentioned a moment ago: sovereignty, jurisdiction, full respect for territorial integrity, if we answer your question through this interpretation, the answer is as follows: the talk about the presence of third forces is...

 - That is, they should be present there as observers on behalf of a third country.

 - If we interprete what I said, it means that the talk about third forces is unacceptable for the Republic of Armenia. That is, we do not see such a need and there is no such need naturally. Let me say more, look, there is a lot of talk about it and there are some speculations, but I want to emphasize again that the Republic of Armenia has never undertaken any obligation, neither in writing nor orally, never made any verbal agreement and has not agreed that our sovereignty, jurisdiction, territorial integrity in our territory would be limited in any way, either by the logic of transport routes or by any other logic. Even if there are some allegations about this, these allegations have no basis and have no relation to reality.

 - You have announced that you will sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. Why has it not been signed yet?

 – Because there are still two articles in the draft peace treaty on which we have not yet been able to reach an agreement, and we continue to work in that direction.