Question: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in his interview with Azerbaijani media stated, that all those who do not want to live in Nagorno-Karabakh as citizens of Azerbaijan, can leave because the road is open for them to leave. How would you comment on this?

Answer: With this statement, the President of Azerbaijan unwittingly admits that Azerbaijan, flagrantly violating its international obligations stipulated by the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020, has been keeping 120,000 Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh under blockade for more than a month and is deliberately leading Nagorno-Karabakh to a humanitarian catastrophe. Azerbaijan admits that the ultimate goal of its actions is to subject Nagorno Karabakh to ethnic cleansing, to deprive the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh of the opportunity to live in their own homeland.

Under these circumstances, we call upon the concerned international partners, through clear actions, to oblige Azerbaijan to stop the blockade of the Lachin Corridor and to save the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh from the imminent disaster. The people of Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be deprived of their natural right to have a homeland and to live in their homeland.

Question: Speaking once again about the so-called "Zangezur Corridor" in the same interview, the President of Azerbaijan admitted that there is no such term in the Trilateral Statement of November 9. At the same time, he threatened: "the corridor will be there, regardless of whether Armenia agrees to it or not." What would you say in this regard?

Answer: Armenia has repeatedly stated about being interested in the opening of all transport and economic infrastructures in the region in line with the November 9 Statement. We are ready to promptly implement this within the framework of the national legislation, within the frames of the agreements reached on maintaining the sovereignty of the countries and jurisdiction over the roads. At the same time, Armenia will never agree to the provision of an extraterritorial corridor.

It is welcomed that the leadership of Azerbaijan finally frankly stated that the claims made about the so-called corridor have nothing to do with the Trilateral Statement of November 9. The Statement mentions only one - the Lachin Corridor, which has been illegally blocked by Azerbaijan for more than a month.

And the threats to open a corridor by force once again clearly demonstrate the violation of the principle of non-use of force or the threat of force, a key principle of international law, by Azerbaijan, as well as the absolute contempt of official Baku for the agreements reached with the participation of international mediators.

Once again, we have to state that the actions of the Azerbaijani leadership, their warmongering rhetoric and maximalist approaches seriously endanger the possibility of achieving peace and stability in the South Caucasus.

Question: In the interview, Ilham Aliyev also touched upon the EU monitoring mission, expressing his discontent with the possibility of deploying a new monitoring mission in Armenia.

Answer: First of all, we would like to emphasise that Armenia highly appreciates the role of the EU mission, which was completed on December 19, 2022, in terms of strengthening stability and security in the region and preventing new aggressions against Armenia. We have also expressed our readiness to continue the mutually beneficial cooperation with the EU in the context of the implementation of the EU’s new monitoring mission in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.

The discontent of the President of Azerbaijan is incomprehensible to us։ let me repeat, we are speaking about the possibility of carrying out the mission in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. Apparently, the Azerbaijani side is worried that the new EU mission will become an obstacle for unleashing new aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia, the danger of which remains very high.

Question: Does this mean that the negotiations might be considered over?

Answer: In no way. In December 2022, we handed to the Azerbaijani side our proposals of the draft treaty on the normalisation of relations with Azerbaijan or draft peace treaty, and now, we are waiting for their response.