Pashinyan: there will be no road for Azerbaijan through Meghri
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan brushed off today the allegations that Armenia was providing a transport corridor to Azerbaijan to get connected to its Nakhichevan exclave through the southern Armenian region of Syunik.
YEREVAN, April 21. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan brushed off today the allegations that Armenia was providing a transport corridor to Azerbaijan to get connected to its Nakhichevan exclave through the southern Armenian region of Syunik.
During a visit to the province, local residents asked the prime minister to either confirm or deny these allegations.
“Who gives the road (to Azerbaijan)?” asked the prime minister, and when he heard in response that the locals meant a corridor for Azerbaijan through Armenian Meghri, he said: “If they (Azerbaijanis) say “ Meghri corridor ,” we also say “Nakhichevan corridor .” Will it happen? No, it will not.' “There will be no road,” he added.
Pashinyan asked a local: ' If there is a railway, is that bad?”, and, having received an affirmative answer, asked why.
“Because for us it will not be as beneficial as for the Azerbaijani side,” the man said.
In a televised interview on April 20 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev threatened to take Armenia's southern region of Zangezur (Syunik) by force, “whether Armenia wants it or not.”
“The creation of the Zangezur corridor fully meets our national, historical and future interests. We will be implementing the Zangezur Corridor, whether Armenia wants it or not. If Armenia wants to, we will solve this issue more easily, if it does not, we will solve it by force,” Aliyev said.
In retaliation Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan said Armenia will take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“We are in permanent contacts with our strategic ally and with all of our partners who are interested in peace in the South Caucasus,” she stressed.
Earlier today residents of the southern Armenian town of Meghri in the Syunik region greeted the visiting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with whistles and insults.
Pashinyan made a surprise visit to Syunik on April 20, having visited several villages, and later that day he also visited the provincial capital Kapan, where he spent the night. On Wednesday morning, he headed for Meghri.
In Meghri, Pashinyan was booed by the locals who shouted insults, including “Nikol the traitor,” “Nikol the Turk,” “The capitulator.”
Accompanied by shouts “Traitor, you sold Artsakh, and now you have come to sell Syunik”, “Syunik is our land”, “Syunik is our homeland, we will not give it up”, Pashinyan walked through the crowd flanked by his bodyguards as police officers were trying to push back the crowd.
In the town of Kapan, Pashinyan visited a military unit, then returned to the building of the regional administration.
Residents of the city gathered in the central square, protesting against his visit. There were also supporters of the prime minister. Both of them periodically shouted slogans in support of and against Pashinyan, verbal skirmishes occurred.
Last December, residents of Syunik did not allow Pashinyan to enter the region, blocking the highway near Goris. -0-