Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he believes Armenia has not fulfilled commitments it made in the 2020 cease-fire agreement to provide Azerbaijan with a land corridor to its western Naxcivan exclave and to withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Aliyev said providing the corridor and withdrawing the troops are commitments that Armenia made and that it must fulfill. He spoke to army officers at an event in Susa, known as Shushi in Armenian, on November 8, a day that Azerbaijan calls Victory Day to mark the end of fighting in 2020.
The Russia-brokered cease-fire agreement put an end to a six-week war between the two South Caucasus nations over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“Two years have passed, but there is still no feasibility study [for the road project], no progress, no railroad, no automobile road. How long do we have to wait?” Aliyev was quoted by Azerbaijani media as saying.
During the two years since the cease-fire, Azerbaijan has allowed vehicles to go from Armenia to Karabakh and back along the Lachin road, he said, adding that Baku is “committed to our commitment to free movement.”
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has responded to previous similar demands for what Azerbaijan expects will be an extraterritorial corridor through Armenia’s southern Syunik Province, commonly known in both countries as Zangezur.
Pashinian has insisted that Armenia must maintain sovereignty over any routes passing through its territory. He also has said that the 2020 Moscow-brokered cease-fire does not require any extraterritoriality for routes through Armenia.
Armenia offered in August to open three checkpoints at its border with Azerbaijan for automobile traffic to and from Naxcivan, stressing that the routes would operate under Armenian legislation. Baku rejected the offer, citing unsuitable relief and climate conditions of the offered roads. It insisted instead on a route through the southern part of Syunik where a railway operated in Soviet times.
Aliyev also insisted in his speech that Armenia honor another commitment under the 2020 deal and withdraw its troops from Karabakh territory.
“What are the Armenian armed forces doing in Karabakh? Our patience is not infinite. And I want to once again warn that if this obligation is not fulfilled, Azerbaijan will take the necessary steps,” Aliyev said, without elaborating.
Armenia insists that currently it has no troops in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, where about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers are deployed, and that the terms of the 2020 cease-fire did not require any disarmament among a local ethnic Armenian militia known as the defense army.
Aliyev insisted at the end of his speech that Azerbaijan wants peace. His comments came shortly after another round of talks focused on a peace deal between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov, that was hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington.
In his November 7 remarks before proceeding to talks behind closed doors, Blinken praised Armenia and Azerbaijan for taking “courageous steps” toward peace.