Toivo Klaar, the EU’s special representative to the South Caucasus

Artsakh’s foreign ministry criticized the European Union’s special representative to the Caucasus, Toivo Klaar for “ignoring the general context of the events taking place” in Nagorno-Karabakh, referring to his tone deaf remarks after the ambush by Azerbaijani forces on an Artsakh police vehicle, as a result of which three officers were killed on March 5.

During a visit to Baku and immediately after, Klaar made statements both on social media and during an interview with an Azerbaijani raising concerns about the EU’s stated neutrality in the current situation.

In the interview, Klaar seemed to give legitimacy to Baku’s official positions not only on the Lachin Corridor blockade, but also the so-called “Zangezur Corridor” scheme being advance as a way to carve out a connection through Armenia to Nakhichevan. The EU envoy voiced support to Baku’s insistence of having checkpoints along the Lachin Corridor and interpreted the November 9, 2020 agreement in a way that legitimizes Azerbaijan’s claims the road through Armenia.

“In speaking about the alleged legitimacy of Azerbaijan’s approaches to the Lachin Corridor, the EU Special Representative clearly ignores the general context of the events taking place. And the context is that Azerbaijan has been illegally blocking the Lachin Corridor for almost three months, in violation of not only their obligations under the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020, but also the fundamental rights of the people of Artsakh,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

“Under the pretext of the need for control over the Lachin Corridor, on March 5, the Azerbaijani armed forces resorted to a terrorist attack, killing three Artsakh police officers and seriously wounding another,” the Artsakh foreign ministry pointed out.

“It should be emphasized that all of Azerbaijan’s arguments regarding the blocking of the Lachin Corridor, including the claim that the corridor was allegedly used for military purposes, after a thorough consideration have been rejected by the UN International Court of Justice, which ordered Azerbaijan to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. We recall that the decisions of the International Court of Justice are legally binding, which was also confirmed by senior representatives of the EU,” explained the Artsakh foreign ministry.

“Such statements supporting the illegal claims of Azerbaijan are perceived by the authorities of this country as an indulgence of their [Baku’s] criminal policy of ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, which is based on the denial of the Artsakh people’s inalienable rights to life, self-determination, freedom and peaceful development. Azerbaijan is seeking to create conditions where nothing would prevent Baku from establishing control over the entire territory of Artsakh by force and completing their criminal plans to ethnically cleanse Artsakh,” said the Artsakh foreign ministry.

“If the EU Special Representative is indeed concerned about actions that escalate tensions in the region, then we strongly recommend that he pay attention to Azerbaijan’s continued military provocations, aggressive and belligerent rhetoric, as well as deployment of new military bases and other military infrastructure in the occupied territories of Artsakh,” emphasized the statement.