The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia drew the attention of international partners and all progressive humanity to the fact that Azerbaijan has been keeping Nagorno-Karabakh under blockade for more than three weeks, grossly violating the agreement on the Lachin Corridor enshriened in the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020 and blocking the way of life connecting Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia and the outer world.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from MFA Armenia, the statement states: “It is already the 23rd day that Azerbaijan is driving the population of Nagorno-Karabakh to forceful eviction in front of the eyes of the whole world, continuing its policy of ethnic cleansing.
The humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh is getting worse day by day. The shortage of essential goods, food and medicine is becoming more and more significant. The risk of malnutrition becomes palpable. Hundreds of families remain separated, being on different sides of the Azerbaijani blockade. 120,000 people have found themselves in a de facto status of a captive.
The claims of the Azerbaijani side that the Lachin Corridor is actually open are completely groundless, which is evidenced at least by the fact that only the vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross are allowed to transport a limited number of patients to the Republic of Armenia in the event of a life-threatening illness.
In the current situation, we emphasize the urgent meeting of the UN Security Council held on December 20, 2022, which was called in response to the request of the Armenian side, to discuss the closure of the Lachin Corridor and its humanitarian consequences for the population of Nagorno-Karabakh. We highly appreciate the publicly expressed and clear calls by the overwhelming majority of the Security Council members to lift the blockade of the corridor by Azerbaijan and to provide access of international organizations to Nagorno Karabakh. We also welcome France’s efforts in the ten-day period following the aforementioned session of the Security Council in the direction of accepting the statement of the President of the Security Council regarding the situation.
Armenia will continue to take targeted steps in all possible formats, including within the framework of the UN Security Council and international and regional structures, in order to ensure a decisive response and actions arising from the mandate and functions of these structures, aimed at the elimination of the blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the resulting humanitarian crisis facing the 120 thousand people of Nagorno Karabakh.
We also consider it necessary to send an international fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin Corridor to assess the humanitarian situation on the ground, as well as to ensure unhindered humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh for relevant UN bodies.
Azerbaijan is obliged to immediately reopen the Lachin Corridor in accordance with the principles of point 6 of the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, according to which Azerbaijan guarantees the safety of the movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo through the Lachin Corridor, and the Lachin Corridor is under the control of the Russian peacekeeping force in Nagorno-Karabakh. Since the provisions of the trilateral declaration have been violated as a result of Azerbaijan’s illegal actions, we also expect Russia to make clear efforts to eliminate this gross violation without any preconditions.”
