Q.: In his interview to Azeri ATV, Azerbaijan’s deputy foreign minister A. Azimov announced that “The government of Azerbaijan rules out any chance of discussions about a corridor between Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh”. If this is the position of Baku, how can we ensure that one of our main negotiation points, i.e. exclusion of Nagorno Karabagh’s enclave status, be met? On the other hand, does this mean that Azerbaijan’s communication routes with Nakhichevan and Armenia’s communication routes with Nagorno Karabagh are discussed within the same negotiations framework?

A.: It is true that the Azeri party has recently been coming up with various far-fetched schemes, often voiced by Araz Azimov, intended to complicate and confuse the issues on the negotiations agenda. In this specific case, they are probably concerned by preliminary findings of the fact-finding mission, already covered by the media. These findings by no means suit Azerbaijan’s claims, hence their attempts to throw in all kinds of unrealistic speculations.

While this and other misleading statements by the Azeri party should not be taken too seriously, they may still cause confusion among our society. Therefore, it is worth mentioning that Nakhichevan, which does not have any communications problems to start with, cannot be viewed within the same framework with Nagorno Karabagh. Nakhichevan’s communications with its neighbor states are not constrained in any way. The issue is about Nagorno Karabagh and the consequences of the conflict, and in this sense the status of Lachin corridor cannot be juxtaposed to any other such issue.