Erdogan urges Zangezur corridor completion amid tensions with Yerevan

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
26 Sep 2023 23:28

If Armenia doesn't permit the corridor through its territory, Iran is willing to facilitate its passage, the Turkish President said.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, left, and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (AP)

Turkish President Erdogan emphasized the importance of completing the Zangezur trade corridor, connecting Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran, after his meeting with Azerbaijan's President Aliyev, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

He mentioned that if Armenia doesn't permit the corridor through its territory, Iran is willing to facilitate its passage.

The corridor is aimed at providing unobstructed access from Baku to Nakhchivan through Armenia, a project Turkey and Azerbaijan have been advocating for since the Second Karabakh War in 2020.

Erdogan also noted that trucks are delivering essential supplies to civilians in the Karabakh region following Azerbaijan's swift military operation to regain control last week.

The news comes as many ethnic Armenians are fleeing the region after Azerbaijan initiated a military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 19, with the announced goal of "restoring constitutional order." Baku further claimed that Azerbaijani forces only attacked Armenian military facilities in the region.

The attack followed just days after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan officially acknowledged that his country recognizes the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region as part of Azerbaijan's sovereign territory.

Azerbaijan held last week a first round of "reintegration" talks with the Armenian Karabakh combatants after they agreed to lay down their weapons against the backdrop of the day-long military offensive.

The combatants said they were in Russian-mediated talks with Baku to organize the withdrawal process and the return of civilians displaced by the fighting.

As of 1600 GMT on Tuesday, over 28,120 out of 120,000 ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh had already crossed into Armenia.