Or the road to Nakhchivan and ... Armenia's "Crossroads of the World" tale

Armenia is ready to restore the railway connection with Azerbaijan. Such an opinion was voiced by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the opening of the ministerial meeting of landlocked countries held in Yerevan. In this place, our forefathers well said that your voice is good if you read the Quran.

The point is that the head of the Armenian government, who emphasized that his country is interested in the restoration of the railway connection with Azerbaijan, and even in the restart of the previous railway line, again brought up the old issues. We will pay attention to what he said. For now, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev's speech "Karabakh: Returning home after 30 years" held at ADA University on December 6. Let's take a look at some points of his speech at the International Forum dedicated to "Achievements and Challenges".

The head of our state stated that Azerbaijan should have an easy exit to Nakhchivan: "Armenia currently has two options. First, they should immediately build a 42-kilometer railway at their own expense or with money from European funds. We consider it, in fact, their sovereign territory, and we have no stipulations about sovereignty. However, there should be easy access to Nakhchivan from Azerbaijan. In this regard, there should be no customs collection, inspections, procedures of border guards. This is our legitimate right."

As it can be seen, the President of Azerbaijan puts the issue firmly - there must be an Azerbaijani way to Nakhchivan. So, what does N. Pashinyan say and why is it not the Koran that he reads with a good voice, figuratively speaking? Or rather, what's the old issue that we're reporting that Nicole's blowing up?

Speaking about the importance of transport and communication relations not only from the point of view of road traffic and cargo transportation, but also from the point of view of regional stability and security, N. Pashinyan pays attention to the factor of expansion of economic cooperation between the peoples of the region and the issue he knows best - "World Intersection" , or connects to the "Crossroads of the World" project. It is known that this idea, which resembles a child born sick, was put forward to oppose the logic of Azerbaijan's Zangezur corridor.

Paragraph 9 of the tripartite statement of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia dated November 10, 2020, which is the act of capitulation of Yerevan, talks about the road connecting other regions of our country with Nakhchivan. In the current issue, it is stated that Armenia should guarantee the opening of that road, and the Federal Security Service of Russia should protect the safety on the road. However, Pashinyan's government avoids this obligation. In fact, the "Crossroads of the World" project is also an indicator of this. Nicole and her team are trying to shape new realities in the region. Let's refer to President Ilham Aliyev's speech at the mentioned forum: "I have repeatedly asked the Prime Minister of Armenia why they do not fulfill their obligations?" According to the ninth article (of the Statement dated November 10, 2020 - ed.), a connection should be established between the western part of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan. There, it is also mentioned who will provide control, and Pashinyan himself signed it. Now this is no longer possible. There is neither that route, nor Russia's participation. That is, in fact, it seems that it has already lost its validity from a legal point of view. Because there is an obligation, but they do not fulfill the obligation."

It should be noted that the President of Azerbaijan emphasized that after the unacceptable approach of Armenia, an agreement was reached with the Iranian side on the establishment of a connection with Nakhchivan and the construction of a crossing for access to Turkey through Nakhchivan. Touching on the details of the current direction, the leader of our country said that the groundbreaking ceremony of the bridge for road transport was held in Aghband village (Zengilan - ed.), and then a bridge for railway transport will be built. In the background of all this, the loser will be Armenia. Because the road from the territory of Iran to Nakhchivan will not only ensure the connection between Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, but will actually become an international transport corridor. This means that a connection is created between Azerbaijan and Turkey. "Armenia has deprived itself of this, and it is also depriving itself of opening all other communications with Azerbaijan."

Yes, President Ilham Aliyev is quite decisive in putting the issue in this context. In return for such concreteness, N. Pashinyan speaks in his speech at the ministerial meeting of landlocked countries as if he is going on a virtual tour of the region. But he does not realize that moving away from the essence not only limits Armenia's access to the sea, but also deepens the current isolation of the country and makes it inevitable.

Of course, Pashinyan shows that he trusts his patrons abroad by talking about the "Crossroads of the World". Let's take into account that the speech of the Azerbaijani leader at the well-known meeting is also a message to those patrons. Emphasizing that one of the issues discussed with Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels was based on Russia's experience of the railway line with Kaliningrad, the head of state said that Armenia does not want this and brought the following ideas to attention: "They want us not to be given this speech, to be prevented from it. They saw that we don't do it, they started complaining. So we heard a puzzling statement from a State Department official. The United States noted that if it does not go through Armenia, they will not allow it. We also ask ourselves, what does this mean? Because we have been saying this to Armenia for 3 years. If you want it to pass through the territory of Armenia, then tell this to your Armenian friends. How can you interfere in our relations with Iran? That is, they say that we will not allow it, we will not allow it. How can this be? Such irresponsible statements do not contribute well to either side. "Unfortunately, this actually makes stability and forecasting in the region even more difficult, and it also affects connectivity projects."

It is possible to conclude that, according to Pashinyan, Armenia is at the crossroads of the world and will not be able to unite other countries along the north-south and east-west axis. His only chance is to accept the conditions of our country. However, if we take into account that there is already an agreement with Iran regarding the road to Nakhchivan, then it is possible to say that Yerevan missed the opportunities of using regional communications. Yes, if the Armenian Prime Minister insists on the "crossroads of the world" again, then the country has no chance of escaping isolation. Azerbaijan, in any case, will get the land route to Nakhchivan.

Armenia remains isolated because N. Pashinyan, who is old fashioned, also defines the formula for his "World Intersection". He promises that each country should establish border and customs control for all infrastructure in its territory through state institutions and ensure the security of these communications. In other words, this means that Azerbaijan does not take into account the logic of the easy way that we talked about Nakhchivan. Here, there is nothing more than a pile of meaningless words expressed by the Armenian Prime Minister that the "Crossroads of the World" project will expand access to the sea of ​​both Armenia and Azerbaijan and create more opportunities for multimodal cargo transportation.

However, in the end, let's emphasize that N. Pashinyan is right in one sense. He talks about the description of the scenes of a happy future in the separate pages of the tale "Crossroads of the World" and concludes that the ones listed are possible as a result of the establishment of peace with Azerbaijan. "The main issue is to what extent peace is possible and within the framework of which principles it takes place," said the Armenian Prime Minister, who is probably aware that, by opposing the logic of the road to Nakhchivan, he did not consider an important component of peace that is currently of great importance. However, there is another important component of peace, which the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, spoke about in an interview with "Euronews" television on November 23. The head of our state said that if N. Pashinyan, who once said "Karabakh is Armenia", now says "Karabakh is Azerbaijan", the approach should be complete: "...but now when they say "Karabakh is Azerbaijan", they should put their signature under it, and we are waiting for that."

Göründüyü kimi, N.Paşinyan, el misalımızda deyildiyi kimi, arxı keçmə­miş “hop” eləməklə məşğuldur. Onun Azərbaycanla dəmir yolu əlaqəsinin bərpasından danışması yalnız görüntü xarakteri daşımaqdadır. Nikolun “Cə­nubi Qafqaz platformasında xalqların parlaq, xoşbəxt gələcəyi”ni “Dünya kəsişməsi” ilə əlaqələndirməsi və ye­kunda bütün bunların baş verməsinin Azərbaycanla sülhdən asılı olduğu­nu vurğulaması, ölkəmizin mövqeyini heçə saymaqdır. Erməni baş nazirin məntiqi həm də dolayısı ilə Azərbay­canı sülhün olmamasının səbəbkarı kimi təqdim etmək cəhdidir. Beləliklə Ermənistan rəhbərliyi özünü mütərəqqi göstərməklə, reallıqlardan uzaqlaşmaq xəttini seçir. N.Paşinyanın yanaşması isə yalnız bitlə bağlı mövzunu mənim­səyən tələbənin imtahanda itlə, pişiklə və nəhayət balıqla bağlı sualları bitin üzərinə gətirmək cəhdindən başqa bir şey deyil. 

Ə.RÜSTƏMOV
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