The opportunities to unblock transport and economic ties in the region are visible. Deputy PM

The opportunities to unblock transport and economic ties in the region, particularly the opening of railways, are visible, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan said in a briefing with journalists, commenting on the Prime Minister's today’s speech about the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, there are no new agreements at the moment, but in any case, the agreements on the issue will formulated in a written form in accordance with the legal requirements.

"There are common symmetrical perceptions that the potential for unblocking, in particular the opening of the railway, are visible", said Mher Grigoryan.

To the question whether there are concrete agreements at the moment, the Deputy Prime Minister answered that at the moment there have been official statements on all the agreements.

Mher Grigoryan referred to the agreement between the Prime Minister of Armenia and the Azerbaijani side reached in Sochi on November 26, 2021 mediated by the President of Russia and reaffirmed during the December 14, 2021 meeting mediated by the President of the European Council on the restoration of the railway.

The works of the trilateral working group on unblocking all economic and transport ties of the region chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia will continue on that platform, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan told reporters, answering the question whether trilateral working group meetings are planned in the near future.

"At the moment I will not say anything about specific dates, but presumably, yes, the work will continue on that platform," said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Mher Grigoryan also gave a positive answer to the question on cooperation with Russian Railways.

Kocharyan talks about the settlement of relations with Turkey and staying in CSTO

During today's press conference, the second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan said that he had revealed some of the problems of the 44-day war of 2020․ "Firstly, the absence of a border with Russia showed the possible limits of Russia's intervention and support. There is still no answer as to why Georgia's airspace was closed for military cargo transportation. Did our authorities knew beforehand that this territory could be closed or did they not, and was it a surprise for them? There is still no answer as to why Iran's air territory was also closed during the first two weeks of the war, and these two factors had a significant impact on the results of the war, this is also a fact."

The next issue, according to the Second President, is the problem of airspace․ "Can we have a full-fledged air blockade in the future, or is it just some episode that we are able to fix? I'm talking about the airspace of Georgia," Kocharyan said, noting that during his presidency there were no such problems and he didn't imagine that it was possible to achieve such relations with Georgia.

"Turkey will stop considering us as an obstacle to its programs only in one case, if it has a total influence on our political processes, on our politics. This assumes that Turkey will have a dominant position in our economy, and Turkey should have a big influence on our political elite. When is it possible? When the Russian presence here will begin to cease and begin to be replaced by Turkish influence, and it’s possible if Armenia abandons Karabakh. Comparing all the processes that I see today, Armenia is following this path," Robert Kocharyan said.

The Second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, rules out that the Collective Security Treaty Organization will intervene in case of an attack on Armenia, but considers it necessary to stay in the organization.

Kocharyan, assessing the situation of Armenia in the context of the CSTO, noted that Armenia has a serious threat of attack from two countries -Turkey and Azerbaijan, but these two countries have warmer relations with other CSTO member countries, except Russia, and more extensive relations in all spheres, and the Turkic-speaking countries are even part of another organization with Turkey and Azerbaijan.

"Therefore, it would be naive to think that the CSTO could react in any way to an attack on us. It's just out of the question. And it's not that the CSTO is a dead structure, and it doesn't work. It works well where everyone's interests coincide. And worked in the case of Kazakhstan. This is a fact, and we just have to reckon with this fact. Do we need to stay in the CSTO or not? Of course, we need to stay. Firstly, there is no structure that will replace the CSTO, and secondly, there are many agreements within this organization, our cooperation with Russia in the military sphere is regulated to some extent. We need to stay, cooperate, but from the point of view of security not to have hopes," Kocharyan said.

Residents of Martakert blocked the road to Karvachar

A column of Azerbaijani military equipment was forced to return, since the residents of Artsakh blocked the road near the village of Mazavuz in the Martakert region leading to Karvachar.

Metakse Hakobyan, an MP from Artsakh, said that the people of Artsakh expressed their protest in this way in connection with the latest cases of violation of the ceasefire by the Azerbaijanis. The villagers are outraged, because on February 15, an Armenian serviceman Khachatur Khachatryan was wounded by an Azerbaijani shot at a position near the village of Mazavuz.

"The villagers demanded not to shoot at the Armenian positions and not to target the civilian population. The pastures where our villagers carry out work are very close to the contact line, a few meters away. Azerbaijanis attack and don't allow them to do their agricultural work," Metakse Hakobyan said.

Other News

• EP adopted a resolution "on the implementation of the common foreign and security policy - annual report 2021", in which it calls on the OSCE Minsk Group to immediately return to its mediating role 

• During the meeting with UN Acting Resident Coordinator in Armenia, FM stressed the need for the unhindered involvement of the relevant international organizations in NK

• Suren Papikyan presented to the Ambassador of the Netherlands the situation on the border after the cessation of hostilities in Artsakh