President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey called on Armenia to act quickly and ensure a route from Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan, referring to the so-called “corridor” project being pushed by Baku that envisions a link to Nakhichevan through Armenia’s sovereign territory.
While Armenia categorically has rejected such a “corridor” and Azerbaijan, last week, claimed that it had abandoned the idea in favor of a route through Iran, the Turkish leader has insisted that Armenia must open that road through its territory.
“Everything will be easier if Armenia fulfills its obligation to Azerbaijan. It is very important to ensure the route between the western regions of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan in the shortest possible time,” Erdogan told reporters when visiting Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan on Thursday, TRT reported.
He also said that Azerbaijan’s large-scale attack on Artsakh in September that resulted in the forcible displacement of Artsakh residents from their homes, brought the region closer to peace.
Yerevan was vague on the issue of normalizing relations with Ankara when Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan told reporters on Thursday that when the top diplomats of the two countries met in Tehran last month they only discussed “regional stability and bilateral issues.”
“We [Armenia] have confirmed that we are ready to quickly implement the already reached agreements. We believe that the Turkish side should respond positively to our willingness to open the border for citizens of third countries and persons holding diplomatic passports,” Kostanyan said.