Pashinyan offered new details on a possible Armenian proposal to unblock transit and economic connections with Azerbaijan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan offered details on a possible Armenian proposal to Azerbaijan regarding the unblocking of regional roads and railways. He previously said that the proposal would only be made public after Armenia receives Azerbaijan’s response.

In an extensive article published by Armenpress on Tuesday, Pashinyan touched on how Azerbaijan could be connected to its exclave of Nakhchivan and Turkey, noting that Armenia was also ready to provide access to ‘pipelines, electricity lines, and cables’.

In terms of the readiness of the physical infrastructure, Pashinyan noted that cargo trucks can enter Armenia ‘via the Lachin–Kornidzor section through the Kornidzor checkpoint, travel on our roads to the Armenia–Turkey border, and enter Turkey through the Margara checkpoint’ and the other way.

He added that only a ‘de-jure decision’ remained to be adopted in this regard, expressing his readiness to implement the plan.

Pashinyan also said that Armenia would ‘ensure the safety of cargo transportation’, adding that ‘if there is a psychological difficulty for Azerbaijani drivers and trucks’, this cargo transportation can be organised using Turkish lorries, which ‘have always travelled and are currently too actively travelling on Armenian roads’, or through lorries from ‘other countries’.

Nakhchivan–Azerbaijan connection

Pashinyan’s article came shortly after the Armenian Foreign Ministry said on 25 February that it had received Azerbaijan’s response to a proposed peace treaty. The sides last exchanged their proposals in November 2024.

In February, the ministry noted that two Armenian proposals, one regarding the unblocking of economic and transport links, the other being ‘a mechanism for the mutual control and verification of armaments remain unanswered’.

Armenia’s November proposals came after talks between Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at a BRICS summit in Russia in October 2024. After the summit, both sides expressed increasing positivity about the progress of the peace negotiations.

Pashinyan previously stated that after receiving Azerbaijan’s response, ‘a more detailed disclosure will take place afterwards’, which should happen for two reasons — ‘either Azerbaijan agrees, and it should be made public, or Azerbaijan does not agree, which in some way will give us the moral right to publicise it’.

In his article on Tuesday, Pashinyan suggested that the proposals were ‘being rejected by Azerbaijan’, and that the reasons for their rejection remained ‘unclear’. He expressed hope that ‘it is not for creating a false pretext for escalation’.

He reiterated his proposal which he disclosed in late January, offering to first unblock the railway for cargo transportation ‘in the Zangelan–Meghri–Ordubad direction and back, and in the Yeraskh–Ordubad–Meghri direction and back’.

At the time, Pashinyan said that he could not imagine why Azerbaijan would decline their offer, adding that their solution solved ‘the objectives of both sides’.

Pashinyan reveals details of proposal to unblock regional railway connections

Earlier this week, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that they were taking ‘practical steps’ for the opening of the ‘Zangezur Corridor’.

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In the article, Pashinyan stated that two sections of the railway in the territory of Armenia needed to be constructed which ‘will take some time’, but ‘work can be performed quickly’.

He insisted that Armenia ‘has never posed an obstacle’ in terms of connecting Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan, instead claiming that they ‘have been and remain utmost creative and flexible’.

‘If Baku’s concern is to ensure reliable cargo transportation with Nakhchivan and back, that issue is resolved. All that remains is for Azerbaijan to say yes’, the article read.

Pashinyan also said that ‘on the principle of reciprocity’, his government was ready to implement ‘some simplifications of transit procedures and to introduce automated mechanisms’.

Pashinyan said that the issue of regional connectivity was ‘the one most frequently exploited or escalated by Azerbaijan’ and noted that ‘Armenia has no unilateral obligations’ and that both sides ‘have undertaken to open all transport and economic routes to each other’.

This was a likely reference to the ‘Zangezur corridor’ — an Azerbaijani proposal to establish a corridor connecting mainland Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan through Armenia.

Azerbaijan reportedly agreed last August to withdraw their demand for the ‘Zangezur corridor’ and instead ‘refer it to a later stage’, thus removing a major roadblock to the signing of the treaty.

However, since then, Azerbaijani, Russian, and Turkish officials have all continued to voice support for the proposal, with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accusing Armenia in January 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.

Azerbaijan names ‘Zangezur Corridor’ and Armenian Constitution as barriers to peace treaty

Armenia dismissed the statement, saying the items had been previously confirmed by both sides.

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