Azerbaijan Does What It Wants: Moises Hakobyan's Warning

According to the "Zhoghovurd" newspaper, "The government is currently doing what is outlined in the trilateral statement, although it is presenting it to the public in parts. The former chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia and a hero of Artsakh, Moises Hakobyan, told "Zhoghovurd" in an interview months ago that the Goris-Kapan segment had already been transferred to Azerbaijan according to the November 9 statement.

“It was clear from the document signed on November 9 that Azerbaijan would be stationed along that route, and those who are only surprised today either don’t understand geography or have not grasped the essence of the signed document. It turns out that today, Azerbaijan is doing what it wants within its territory. If they have set up a border checkpoint today, tomorrow they might excavate that road and prevent transportation or detain our citizens passing through there, accusing them of committing crimes against Azerbaijan. Anything can happen,” Hakobyan elaborated in our interview.

According to the Artsakh hero, Azerbaijan desires to have a corridor through Syunik leading to Nakhichevan. He quoted Aliyev, who said, “If the term corridor does not appeal to you, we can also rename the Lachin corridor.” Hakobyan explained that if the Lachin corridor is renamed and becomes a direct highway connecting Armenia to Artsakh, Azerbaijan would raise the issue of establishing customs and passport points there as well.

“In other words, the checkpoint set up in Syunik is a message to our government that if there is no ‘corridor’, similar checkpoints will be established in Artsakh, Syunik, and tomorrow, the day after, in another area where Azerbaijani armed forces can be stationed. And this is how our relations will be shaped,” our interlocutor added.

For further details, refer to today’s issue of the newspaper.