Azerbaijani special operations forces officers and Gray Wolves supporters disguised as "environmental activists" with the help of the Azerbaijani military have seized the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) and Armenia, stopping all traffic and threatening to starve the local population.
The Aliyev regime has blocked the Lachin Corridor, thus denying the entire population of Artsakh access to Armenia and the outside world. This is essentially the beginning of the final stage of the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.
As in the case of the disruption of the only natural gas supply pipeline from Armenia to Artsakh earlier this year, the goal of this action happening now is the same – to create an unbearable humanitarian crises that force people to flee their homes.
Azerbaijani special operations forces officers and Turkish ultra-nationalist Gray Wolves supporters disguised as "environmental activists", with the help of the Azerbaijani military, have reportedly seized the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, stopping all traffic and threatening to starve the local population.
More than 1500 people have been stranded on both sides of the corridor to and from Artsakh, including 270 children.
Azerbaijan's blocking of the only access to Artsakh clearly means that more than 120,000 civilians are at risk. It is a violation of International Humanitarian Law and directly contradicts all possible bilateral, tripartite and multilateral commitments of Azerbaijan.
On the morning of December 12, 2022, a group of people from the Republic of Azerbaijan, representing themselves as environmental activists, set up tents near Sushi, blocking the normal and unhindered movement of the Lachin Corridor, which was created by the Tripartite Declaration between of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the President of the Russian Federation on November 9, 2020, in order to ensure the connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.
Propaganda preparations to close the Lachin Corridor started months ago and it is obvious that this provocation was organised by the state authorities of Azerbaijan, with the aim of cutting off Nagorno-Karabakh from the Republic of Armenia and therefore from the outside world.
As a result of this action, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh were deprived of the right to freedom of movement. Nagorno-Karabakh faces the imminent threat of a food and humanitarian crisis.
The created situation directly contradicts point 6 of the Tripartite Declaration of November 9, 2020, according to which:
A) THE LACHIN CORRIDOR IS UNDER THE CONTROL OF RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPING TROOPS DEPLOYED IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH;
B) THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN GUARANTEES THE SAFETY OF THE MOVEMENT OF CITIZENS, VEHICLES AND GOODS THROUGH THE LACHIN CORRIDOR.
Therefore, Azerbaijan is in flagrant violation of its international obligation.
This behaviour by Azerbaijan not only shows its lack of intention to address the issue of the rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and engage in dialogue with Stepanakert for this purpose, but once again testifies to the continuation of the policy of the official Baku is subjecting Nagorno-Karabakh to ethnic cleansing.
The blockade of the Lachin Corridor is the expression of many warning messages, namely, that Azerbaijan has adopted a genocidal policy against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Regular violations and provocations of the ceasefire regime by the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan on the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh make the ontological danger for Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh more objective.
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