Pashinyan: Truth about Karabakh crisis emphasized at highest int'l body

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has weighed in on the UN Security Council meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), saying that the truth about the Lachin Corridor being closed was emphasized at the highest international body.

Since December 12, 2022, the sole road connecting Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia - the Lachin Corridor - has been blocked by Azerbaijan. Baku tightened the blockade on June 15, 2023, banning emergency relief supplies that were carried out by Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross through the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia and the outside world. The move aggravated the shortages of food, medicine and other essential items experienced by the region’s population. On August 15, Karabakh Human Rights Defender’s office reported the first case of death from starvation.

Pashinyan told a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, August 17 that the discussion in the UN Security Council has confirmed the existence of a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh and the fact that the lives and safety of 120 thousand people of Nagorno-Karabakh are in dabger.

"It was emphasized that Azerbaijan failed to implement the decision of the International Court of Justice to ensure uninterrupted movement of people, vehicles and cargo in both directions through the Lachin Corridor," Pashinyan said.

"Now we can record that the truth about the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor and the resulting humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh has been raised at the highest international body. Also, a collective call was made by the international community to Azerbaijan to eliminate the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor.

"Of course, this call has not been implemented at the moment and 22 trucks with around 400 tons of humanitarian cargo are waiting for the opportunity to enter Nagorno-Karabakh at the entrance to the Lachin Corridor. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Nagorno Karabakh is worsening day by day. at the same time, the people of Karabakh carrying out agricultural work report about appearing under fire of the armed forces of Azerbaijan, aimed at depriving them of the opportunity to harvest.

"On the one hand, Azerbaijan has blocked the entry of 100 tons of flour by the Armenian government to Nagorno Karabakh, on the other hand, it does not allow the people of Nagorno Karabakh to harvest their grain to have flour. This is another fact that substantiates the thesis put forward by international experts that Azerbaijan is subjecting the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh to genocide by subjecting them to starvation, and therefore the opening of the Lachin Corridor should be considered a step aimed at preventing genocide. I think the international community should focus on this perception.

"At the same time, I must repeat what I said before that the best solution to the situation is the removal of the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan, the start of the Stepanakert-Baku dialogue withi international mechanism.

"The Republic of Armenia, for its part, continues to reaffirm its commitment to the peace agenda and calls on official Baku to refrain from taking steps aimed at nullifying the historical opportunity to establish peace."