He also continued to describe as “Zangezur corridor” a special transit corridor for Azerbaijan which Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian pledged to open during a recent summit in Washington.
“Azerbaijan has lifted the ban on the transit of goods to Armenia,” Aliyev said during a visit to Kazakhstan. “The first transit cargo will be a batch of Kazakh wheat delivered to Armenia. This fact proves that peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia is no longer on paper but in practice.”
Pashinian was quick to welcome the statement through a spokeswoman. Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan clarified, for his part, that “the first batch of Kazakh wheat” mentioned by Aliyev “will enter Armenia via Georgian railway.” He gave no dates for the shipment or specify its volume.
Pashinian has regularly stated that “peace has been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan” as a result of his August 8 agreements with Aliyev brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. The trilateral summit resulted in the initialing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. Baku continues to make its signing conditional on a change of the Armenian constitution. Pashinian’s political opponents maintain that the treaty will not preclude a future Azerbaijani military against Armenian even if it is signed after all.
A joint declaration signed by Trump, Aliyev and Pashinian also commits Armenia to ensuring “unhindered communication” Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave through the strategic Syunik province. The United States is to have exclusive rights to what will be called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
Aliyev has echoed Armenian opposition claims that the TRIPP amounts to the kind of an extraterritorial “Zangezur corridor” that has been demanded by Baku ever since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“The works aimed at establishing road and rail communication in the territory of Azerbaijan will be completed by the middle of next year,” he said on Tuesday. “We hope that these works will be carried out in the territories of other countries just as quickly. In that case, the opening of the Zangezur Corridor may take place by the end of 2028.”
Pashinian has repeatedly complained about Aliyev’s use of the term “Zangezur corridor.” Addressing the UN General Assembly late last month, he said it runs counter to the August 8 deal and is “perceived as a territorial claim” in Armenia. But with Baku continuing to ignore those complaints, Pashinian indicated last week that he will stop paying attention to Aliyev’s rhetoric.