Pashinyan reveals details of proposal to unblock regional railway connections

(Updated: about 4 hours ago)• 3 min read

▲Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Official photo.

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On Friday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan revealed the details of the proposal sent to Azerbaijan regarding the unblocking of regional railway connections, while earlier this week Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that they were taking ‘practical steps’ to open the ‘Zangezur Corridor’.

Pashinyan’s statement came during a press conference on Friday. He claimed that it was ‘not even a proposal’, but ‘a solution’ that ‘takes into account the positions’ and ‘simultaneously resolves the issues raised’ by both Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Pashinyan revealed that they had proposed to establish a railway cargo connection from Azerbaijan’s western regions to its exclave of Nakhchivan and back through the city of Meghri in the Armenian Syunik region, as well as from Yeraskh, Ararat region through the territory of Nakhchivan to Meghri and back. The connections would be used by both sides for international trade or cargo shipments.

The railroad between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been blocked since the early 1990s, with the last train passing through Meghri in April 1992.

Armenia announced its proposal in mid-November 2024, following the talks between Pashinyan and Aliyev held at a BRICS summit in Russia in October, after which both sides expressed increasing positivity about the progress of the negotiations.

During Friday’s press conference, Pashinyan elaborated that they chose the railway passing through Meghri over another possible route through the northern Tavush region, as it is a ‘cheap and realistic option’, considering that the second railway through Tavush sustained severe destruction as a result of a landslide, and ‘would require huge investments for restoration’.

Pashinyan said that they proposed to start with cargo shipments, and when the atmosphere allows, to consider the possibility of passenger routes.

‘We have made this proposal and we are waiting for a positive response from Azerbaijan. Frankly speaking, I can’t imagine why they would decline this, knowing Azerbaijan’s positions’, Pashinyan said, adding that their solution solved ‘the objectives of both sides’.

Pashinyan additionally noted that what the sides would call the ‘solution’ to the issue of transport connections is another matter, and that Armenia did not oppose unhindered connections, ‘but unhindered does not mean bypassing Armenia’s jurisdiction’.

‘Practical steps’ to open the ‘Zangezur Corridor’

Earlier this week, on Tuesday, Aliyev stated that ‘Armenia must fulfil its obligations and ensure unhindered passage from Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan’.

According to the Anadolu Agency, Aliyev accused Armenia of a nonconstructive approach over four years and of stalling progress on the ‘Zangezur Corridor’ by offering excuses and attempting to mislead the international community.

Aliyev for the first time publicly commented on the Armenian government’s Crossroads for Peace project, a regional transport proposal that would connect Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Georgia via transit routes through Armenia.

‘This so-called project is not worth two cents without Azerbaijan, and we have repeatedly conveyed this to the Armenian side through various channels’, Aliyev said, adding that if Armenia truly wanted to implement it ‘first of all, you should approach Azerbaijan’.

‘Because without us, it is just a piece of paper’, Aliyev said.

He also noted that the ‘Zangezur Corridor’ was an Azerbaijani project which, after their victory in the Second Karabakh War, ‘was brought to the international agenda and entered international terminology’.

‘Today, the Zangezur Corridor is a widely accepted term and expression. Of course, we are taking practical steps for the opening of this Corridor’.

Armenia–Azerbaijan Relations

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Nikol Pashinyan

Arshaluys Barseghyan •

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A journalist since 2016, Arshaluys specialises in fact-checking and open-source investigations, with a focus on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, politics, and social and gender issues. She is also a strong advocate for media literacy and closely follows Armenia’s media landscape.