‘Zangezur Corridor’ Will Happen With or Without Armenia
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on Tuesday said that he has no intention of ending the Artsakh blockade until the demands of the so-called environmental protesters are met, adding that 2023 will be Armenia’s “last chance” to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan.
Aliyev said in remarks televised on Azerbaijani television channels that the actions of the so-called Azerbaijani “environmentalists” will continue until the “fair demands” of Baku are met and “access to the ore deposits” located in the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh is opened.
At the same time, Aliyev also said that “it is at least shameless to call these events a blockade,” calling the Armenian reaction to the 30-day closure of the Lachin Corridor, “another anti-Azerbaijani show.”
Aliyev also warned Yerevan that “only time will tell” if it does not heed its calls and sign a peace treaty.
In his view, this year will be “the last chance” for Armenia. “Because 2024 is coming, and then Russia’s peacekeeping mission ends in 2025. They need to see a little further than their nose,” Aliyev said.
“If they are not interested, we don’t need it [peace treaty] either. If they are not interested in delimitation, we don’t need it either. This means that the border will go where we think it should be. I already have to use such terms. If the boundary is not delimited, who can say the boundary goes here and not there? I think it should be here. I have reason to say so – historical, cartographic. So this issue should concern them more than us,” Aliyev said, adding that “this year will bring clarity to many issues.”
“By the way, I sincerely believed that we would be able to sign the agreement before the end of the year. But that did not happen,” he added.
Calling it a “historic necessity,” Aliyev said that the plan for the so-called “Zangezur Corridor” will be realized whether Armenia wants it or not.
“We are absolutely sure that realization of this project is our natural right,” he said stating once again that “the issue of Zangezur corridor project realization is reflected in the trilateral statement of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian leaders made on November 9, 2020.”
According to him, “Armenia wants to evade it and in fact for more than two years it has not fulfilled its obligations. But this will not stop us,” Aliyev added.
