Baku expects Yerevan to guarantee security of traffic via Zangezur corridor - Azerbaijani rep

BAKU. Oct 5 (Interfax) - Baku does not demand the opening of an extraterritorial corridor (Zangezur corridor) to Nakhchivan through Armenia, but urges Yerevan to provide reliable security guarantees for traffic in this area, the Azerbaijani president's Representative for Special Assignments Elchin Amirbekov said.

"We recognize that it is Armenia's sovereign territory [...]. A separate issue is how they [Yerevan] will ensure the security [of traffic in this area]," Amirbekov said at a discussion organized by Michael Doran and Luke Coffey, senior fellows at the Hudson Institute, an analytical center based in Washington.

"We will insist that Armenia provides us with reliable security guarantees for every passenger who will get on a train heading from mainland Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan," he said.

If Armenia chooses to drag out this process, there is also plan B, i.e. a route running via Iran, he said.