BAKU — “The Turkic world needs a corridor for direct communication, and that corridor is the Zangezur Corridor,” said Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Cahit Bağcı, in a statement from Baku.
“Azerbaijan, as the victorious side, is rightfully asserting the necessity of opening the Zangezur Corridor, as stipulated in the 2020 agreement,” he stated.
“For the first time since 1937, there will be direct communication between Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the broader Turkic world,” the Turkish diplomat emphasized, adding that “the timing and conditions of its opening depend on an agreement between the two countries, as sovereign states.”
“We hope the normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan accelerates. If a peace agreement is signed or preliminarily signed, and the conditions related to the Zangezur Corridor are met, then the Armenia–Turkey border may also open,” the ambassador added, stressing that this would take place as a result of consultations between Ankara and Baku.
Akgun echoed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments made after a visit to Azerbaijan in May. Erdogan discussed the issue with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Istanbul on June 20.
Yerevan has rejected Baku’s demands for the transit of people and cargo through Armenia’s strategic Syunik province to be exempt from Armenian border controls.
