Türkiye’s Erdogan Says Corridor through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran Must Be Completed

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the 78th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on September 19, 2023. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP)

Asharq Al Awsat

11:21-26 September 2023 AD ـ 12 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1445 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

11:21-26 September 2023 AD ـ 12 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1445 AH

Türkiye’s Erdogan Says Corridor through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran Must Be Completed

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the 78th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on September 19, 2023. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP)

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the so-called Zangezur trade corridor passing through Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran must be completed, broadcasters reported on Tuesday, a day after he met Azerbaijan's leader.
Speaking to reporters on his return flight from the Azeri exclave of Nackchivan, where he met President Ilham Aliyev, Erdogan said that if Armenia does not allow the trade corridor to pass through its territory then Iran was warm to the idea of allowing it passage through its territory, Reuters said.
The Zangezur corridor aims to give Baku unimpeded access to Nakhchivan through Armenia. Both Türkiye and Azerbaijan have been calling for its implementation since the Second Karabakh War in 2020.
Erdogan also said all materials required by civilians in the Karabakh region were being provided by trucks after Azerbaijan's lightning offensive to retake control of the region last week.

Pakistan Launched Multiple Attacks Along India’s Western Border, India Says

A resident inspects his house damaged by Pakistani artillery shelling in Poonch, along the Line of Control, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP)

06:23-9 May 2025 AD ـ 12 Thul-Qi’dah 1446 AH

Pakistan Launched Multiple Attacks Along India’s Western Border, India Says

A resident inspects his house damaged by Pakistani artillery shelling in Poonch, along the Line of Control, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP)

Pakistan's armed forces launched "multiple attacks" using drones and other munitions along India's entire western border on Thursday night and early Friday, the Indian army said, as conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors intensified.

The old enemies have been clashing since India struck multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday that it said were "terrorist camps" in retaliation for a deadly attack in its restive region of Kashmir last month, in which it said Islamabad was involved.

Pakistan denied the accusation but both countries have exchanged cross-border firing and shelling and sent drones and missiles into each other's airspace since then, with nearly four dozen people dying in the violence.

The army also said Pakistani troops had resorted to "numerous cease fire violations" along the countries' de-facto border in Kashmir, a region that is divided between them but claimed in full by both.

"The drone attacks were effectively repulsed and befitting reply was given to the CFVs (ceasefire violations)," the army said, adding all "nefarious designs" would be responded to with "force".

There was no immediate response from Pakistan to the Indian statement.

Islamabad had earlier denied attacking Pathankot city in India's Punjab state, Srinagar in the Kashmir valley, and Rajasthan state's Jaisalmer, saying the accusations were "unfounded" and "politically motivated".

SIRENS IN AMRITSAR

A "major infiltration bid" was "foiled" in Kashmir's Samba region on Thursday night, India's Border Security Force said, and heavy artillery shelling persisted in the Uri area on Friday, according to a security official who did not want to be named.

"Several houses caught fire and were damaged in the shelling in the Uri sector...one woman was killed and another injured in overnight shelling," the official said.

Sirens blared for more than two hours on Friday in India's border city of Amritsar, which houses the Golden Temple revered by Sikhs, and residents were asked to remain indoors.

Ansab, a student at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture, Science and Technology in Jammu city, which was among the places where blasts were heard overnight, said the explosions were "more violent and louder" around 4 a.m. (2230 GMT Thursday).

"For two to three minutes it became very loud, windows started shaking as if they will break," she said, adding the air was "smoggy" later - a mixture of smoke and fog.

World powers from the US to China have urged

the two countries to calm tensions, and US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday reiterated the call for de-escalation.

"We want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We can't control these countries, though," he said in an interview on Fox News show "The Story with Martha MacCallum."

The relationship between Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan has been fraught with tension since they became separate countries after attaining independence from colonial British rule in 1947.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region, has been at the heart of the hostility and they have fought two of their three wars over the region.

Türkiye’s Erdogan Says Corridor through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran Must Be Completed

Türkiye’s Erdogan Says Corridor through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran Must Be Completed

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Pakistan Launched Multiple Attacks Along India’s Western Border, India Says

Pakistan Launched Multiple Attacks Along India’s Western Border, India Says

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