Erdoğan urges immediate opening of Zangezur corridor

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has stressed the urgent need to immediately open the Zangezur corridor and achieve a comprehensive peace agreement in order to facilitate normalization between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The president's remarks came during a reception with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov in the capital Ankara on July 31, as reported by the Presidential Communications Directorate.

Trade, energy, transportation issues and the ongoing process of normalizing Azerbaijan-Armenia relations were central to the discussion during the meeting. Alongside Erdoğan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Akif Çağatay Kılıç, the chief adviser to the president, were present at the reception.

Erdoğan underlined the importance of continuing efforts to reach the targeted $15 billion trade volume between Türkiye and Azerbaijan and emphasized the mutual interests of both countries in collaborating fully in the energy and transportation sectors.

Furthermore, Fidan, who had met with his Azerbaijani counterpart before the program at the Presidential Complex, echoed Erdoğan's sentiment regarding the Zangezur corridor.

The Turkish top diplomat expressed that the key to achieving peace and stability in the region lies in a comprehensive peace agreement, with the opening of the corridor playing a vital role in this process. Fidan reassured that they are actively continuing the normalization process with Armenia, closely coordinating with Azerbaijan.

The minister also called upon the international community to support the two countries in their pursuit of peace and urged against discrimination between the parties involved. "Support peace, do not be a hindrance instead of support," he stated.

The multi-modal corridor will connect Nakhchivan, a southwestern exclave, with mainland Azerbaijan and further plug into the railway and highway grid of Türkiye.

The Azerbaijani government's plan to restore the direct connection is one of the projects initiated following the 2020 war with Armenia. The construction of the route's Azerbaijani section is planned to be put into operation in 2024.

Armenia undertook to guarantee the safety of transport links between the western regions of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan in order to ensure an unimpeded movement of citizens, vehicles and goods in both directions. However, it strongly opposes the corridor's launch and has ignored to take concrete action towards restoring its section of the corridor.

Addressing criticism about the establishment of a border crossing point on the Lachin corridor, a mountain road that links Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, Fidan defended Azerbaijan's actions. "The Lachin corridor is Azerbaijani territory. Therefore, Azerbaijan takes whatever measure it deems necessary, and taking it is one of the greatest sovereign rights. We see that Azerbaijan is making every effort with humanitarian considerations," he asserted.