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Today, July 25, the European service of Radio Liberty shared false information in a report about a road passing through Armenia’s Syunik region.
Its author, Kian Sharifi, posing as an expert, calls it the “Zangezur Corridor” when talking about the geopolitical significance of the road.
“The very fragile peace agreement in 2020 promised a new route, the Zangezur corridor, directly through the territory of Armenia. Moscow supports it. For them, it means a trade route free of sanctions,” the journalist noted referring to the tripartite statement of November 9, signed following the 44-day Artsakh war.
There is no mention of any corridor or specific route passing through the territory of Armenia in any clause of that statement.
Clause 9 of the statement solely stipulates the unblocking of regional communications:
“9. All economic and transport links in the region shall be unblocked. The Republic of Armenia shall guarantee the safety of transport communication between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic with a view to organize the unimpeded movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo in both directions. Control over transport communication shall be exercised by the Border Guard Service bodies of the FSS of Russia.
Upon agreement reached between the Parties, construction of new transport communications linking the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic with the western regions of Azerbaijan shall be ensured.”
Armenia has repeatedly officially stated that it is ready to provide Azerbaijan with a road exclusively on the basis of territorial integrity, sovereignty, as well as the principle of reciprocity.
As for the proposal by the USA to lease a road passing through the Syunik region of Armenia, the Fact Investigation Platform has summarized the events evolving on that account. We have also addressed the proposal to lease the road voiced by the US Ambassador to Turkiye, to which official Yerevan responded: “The Republic of Armenia has not discussed and is not discussing the outsourcing of control over its sovereign territory to any third party. No part of the territory of the Republic of Armenia can fall out of the scope of the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and jurisdiction of the Republic of Armenia.”
Moreover, Yerevan also responded to the Azerbaijani President’s statement that Azerbaijanis should not encounter Armenian border guards or anyone else upon crossing the so-called Zangezur corridor.
“The Republic of Armenia has never discussed, is not discussing, and will not discuss the terminology and subsequent logic put forth by the Azerbaijani president. There is no option of not meeting our country’s relevant services upon crossing the territory of the Republic of Armenia,” the response reads.
Thus, the journalist of the European service of Radio Liberty is spreading false statements: not only has Armenia not committed itself to providing a corridor to Azerbaijan under any document, and particularly under the November 9 statement, but it has also repeatedly officially excluded the provision of any route beyond its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Nane Manasyan
