Meeting in Moscow earlier this month, Overchuk and his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts reportedly made major progress on the functioning of a railway that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Armenia’s Syunik province. For its part, Armenia would be able to use the railway for cargo shipments to and from Russia or Iran.
“A draft document has been formed and almost completely agreed at our level, although the main issue -- how ordinary Azerbaijanis and Armenians will interact with each other when crossing the border -- still needs to be worked on,” Overchuk told the TASS news agency in an interview published on Monday.
He said the agreement must regulate all aspects of ensuring the security of Azerbaijanis entering Armenia and vice versa so that “nothing bad will happen to these people on the territory of the other country.”
Overchuk said that he held a detailed discussion with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on the matter after the Moscow meeting. “Much was clarified, and something still remains and requires further discussion with the Azerbaijani side,” he added without elaborating.
Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev claimed last week that Russian border guards will oversee “unfettered” transport links between Nakhichevan and western Azerbaijan passing through Armenia’s Syunik province.
The office of Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian insisted, however, that he and Mustafayev reached no such agreement during their trilateral talks with Overchuk. It said that under the terms of the Russian-brokered agreement that stopped the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh the planned road and rail links will be under full Armenian control.
Article 9 of the ceasefire agreement stipulates that the Russian border guards stationed in Armenia will “control” the transit of people, vehicles and goods between Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan.
According to Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanian, this means that the Russians will largely “monitor” the commercial traffic, rather than escort it, let alone be involved in border controls.
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev openly argued about the matter during a Eurasian Economic Union summit held in Moscow on May 25. Pashinian objected to Aliyev’s use of the term “Zangezur corridor,” saying that amounts to Azerbaijani territorial claims to Armenia.
“The word ‘corridor’ does not constitute a claim to anybody’s territory,” countered Aliyev.
Overchuk reiterated that the deal discussed by the three sides would commit Baku to recognizing Armenian sovereignty over the transit routes.
“None of the parties questions the fact that individual sections of this road will be under the jurisdiction of the country on whose territory they are located,” he said. “Thus, in relation to this road, Azerbaijani legislation will be applied in Azerbaijan and Armenian legislation in Armenia.”
