Security Council Secretary: There Can Be No Corridor of Another Country on the Sovereign Territory of Armenia

YEREVAN — There can be no corridor of another sovereign country on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan said in a weekend interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Services.

Commenting on the statements of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev about the “Zangezur Corridor” Grigoryan stressed that the meaning of unblocking in the region is that all communication routes are opened, and Armenia will use the territory of Azerbaijan for communication with Russia.

Grigoryan said that Armenia is fully prepared for launching the process of delimitation and demarcation of the border with Azerbaijan and is waiting for the latter’s response.

“We are ready for the processes of delimitation and demarcation, but Azerbaijan, as you probably noticed, is now practically not talking about it,” he said in an interview with Azatutyun radio station.

Grigoryan said also that assigning the protection of the border to the border troops of the National Security Service will be possible only when the process of delimitation and demarcation is completed.

“Border troops are currently controlling a border section stretching from the village of Tekh to the Araks River. We could deploy our border guards to this section because it is more or less determined accurately. In other sections it will be possible only after the process of delimitation and demarcation is over,” he explained.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly called the demarcation and delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border an important point for achieving peace and stability in the region.

Grigoryan also spoke about Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s announcement about setting up Foreign Intelligence Service. He explained that Armenia has long had the Foreign Intelligence Service, which has been part of the National Security Service.

“Most countries in the world have shifted to a system where the NSS and the foreign intelligence service are different agencies. Given the importance of foreign intelligence, there is a need to give these activities an institutional status. In this regard, we consider it necessary to create a separate structure,” he said.

When asked why then the Armenian side failed to foresee the 44-day war in Artsakh, unleashed by Azerbaijan last autumn, Grigoryan said that even the United States, having one of the world’s strongest intelligence services, did not have the information to prevent the September 11, 2001