Ahead of meeting in Brussels, Aliev and Pashinyan exchange mutual claims

The Zangezur Corridor, which Baku is seeking to open, should work on the same conditions as the Lachin one, Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliev, stated in Brussels, at a meeting with the NATO Secretary General. The Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has accused the head of Azerbaijan of trying to drive the topic of opening regional communications into a dead end.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the shootouts on the border of the Kelbadjar District of Azerbaijan with the Gegarkunik Region of Armenia occur every day since December 8. Analysts have linked the border escalation to the upcoming meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Brussels. Baku believes that the meeting will fail to relieve tensions if Yerevan evades the start of border delimitation and opening of transport communications.

Azerbaijan believes that the creation of the Zangezur Corridor is stipulated by the agreements on the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, but Armenia, through whose territory the corridor should pass, does not recognize this.

Aliev is making use of the "corridor" policy to disrupt the OSCE Minsk Group negotiations; and for this purpose he constantly puts pressure on Armenia, Andrias Gukasyan, a political analyst, believes.

"There are no grounds for providing Azerbaijan with a corridor through the territory of Armenia; it is absolutely inappropriate to compare the Lachin Corridor with the road through Megri to Nakhichevan," Mr Gukasyan has stated.

According to his version, the decision to open the Lachin Corridor was made due to the need for a land connection between Karabakh and Armenia. Azerbaijan cannot present claims to Armenia at such a level, the political analyst is sure.