Artsakh citizens prevented from entering Artsakh (Gegham Stepanyan, April 4)

Officials in Artsakh say that a group of Azerbaijanis blocked their citizens from returning home.

These 27 Artsakh citizens have been stranded in Armenia since the start of the blockade on December 12, 2022. The Russian peacekeeping force in Artsakh had negotiated their return and arranged their transportation. On the afternoon of April 4, Russian peacekeeping vehicles transporting the citizens from Goris, Armenia to Stepanakert were held up on the Lachin Corridor for five hours by a group of Azerbaijanis. 

The Lachin Corridor, the sole road connecting Artsakh with Armenia and the outside world, has been blocked for nearly four months by Azerbaijanis claiming to be eco-activists. As a result, hundreds of people who were in Armenia at the start of the blockade have been separated from their families. Some have returned home with the assistance of the Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Only vehicles belonging to the Russian peacekeepers and the ICRC have been allowed to use the Lachin Corridor. 

According to a report by the Office of Artsakh Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan, Azerbaijanis entered one of the vehicles. Four women became distressed and fainted. They were transferred to the Stepanakert Medical Center. Three of the women have been discharged, while one remains under medical supervision. Following “fruitless negotiations” between the Russian peacekeepers and Azerbaijani protesters, the remaining 23 citizens were not allowed to enter blockaded Artsakh and returned to Goris. 

Azerbaijani protesters stop Russian peacekeeping vehicles (Gegham Stepanyan, April 4)

Azerbaijan and Russia have not officially commented on the incident. An Azerbaijani news outlet reported that an Azerbaijani ambulance had transferred the four women in psychological distress to the Stepanakert hospital. Artsakh authorities said the women were transferred with the assistance of Russian peacekeepers. 

“Today’s incident proves once again the whole essence of the false and fabricated claims of the Azerbaijani leadership, the behavior of obvious and undisguised lying and misleading the international community,” Stepanyan said.

The Artsakh Foreign Ministry said that the incident is the latest in Azerbaijan’s “practical implementation of their criminal plan to ethnically cleanse Artsakh.” It condemned the “inaction of the international community in the face of such serious violations of human rights,” calling it “tacit approval.”

While the Lachin Corridor remains closed, Azerbaijan has made several efforts in recent weeks to take control of routes around Artsakh by force. 

The route of the Lachin Corridor was forcibly changed by Azerbaijan on March 30. Azerbaijani armed forces captured a road that has been used by Armenia since August 2022 to connect to the Lachin Corridor. Armenian authorities said that Azerbaijani forces also advanced into Armenia’s borders. 

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Artsakh said that, while Azerbaijan had blocked the road, the alternate Tegh-Kornidzor road is ready for use by the Russian peacekeepers and the ICRC. The road is still unpaved and under construction. 

The Tegh-Kornidzor road runs within the Syunik province of Armenia and connects to the new route of the Lachin Corridor that has been in operation since August 2022. 

On March 30, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan confirmed that Azeri armed forces captured several heights in the Lachin region and along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. 

“In regard with the commissioning of the new Lachin road, several high grounds between Jaghazur and Zabukh (Aghavno) villages of Lachin region, main and auxiliary roads, as well as large areas along the border were taken under the control of the Azerbaijan Army Units,” the Foreign Ministry said. 

The road captured by Azerbaijani forces is a temporary road that has been in use since August 2022. Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed that the temporary road would be operational until Armenia completed construction of the Tegh-Kornidzor road. 

According to the ceasefire agreement ending the 2020 Artsakh War, within three years Armenia and Azerbaijan would construct a new route along the Lachin Corridor, to which Russian peacekeepers would be deployed. The new route begins in the village Kornidzor in the Syunik province of Armenia, passes through the village Hin Shen in the Shushi district and reaches the Artsakh capital Stepanakert. 

Azerbaijan undertook construction of the portion of the road that runs through Artsakh. Its crews worked rapidly to complete construction by August 2022. The Armenian side, however, delayed starting construction on the part of the road within its borders. Armenian authorities insisted that the route should be decided within three years, under the terms of the ceasefire. 

On August 2, Azerbaijan demanded that Armenia halt use of the old route. Its demand coincided with border attacks on Artsakh, resulting in the deaths of two Armenian soldiers. On August 5, Artsakh authorities announced that the Armenian residents of Lachin, Aghavno and Sus, all located along the old route, would have to evacuate their homes by August 25. 

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan confirmed during a March 30 cabinet meeting that the route of the Lachin Corridor has been changed. He said that Armenia and Azerbaijan had previously agreed that Armenia could use the temporary road until April 1, 2023. Pashinyan said that border guards from the National Security Service (NSS), rather than from the army, will be deployed along the new Tegh-Kornidzor road. 

The NSS added that Azerbaijani soldiers have not only captured the road, but have also set up posts within Armenia’s borders. It said that Azerbaijani soldiers have advanced up to 300 meters into Armenian territory at five border sections. The NSS added that the Azerbaijani forces have started to “carry out engineering work.” 

These Azerbaijani posts are located near the village Tegh. Farmers have lost access to their fields and cannot work as a result, according to local officials. 

This is not the first time in recent weeks that Azerbaijan has asserted control over routes around Artsakh by force. On March 25, Azerbaijani armed forces captured a strategic height near the Stepanakert-Lisagor road, placing the road under its direct line of fire. The road, which runs through difficult terrain and was rarely used in the past, was used after the start of the blockade of Artsakh to transfer civilians and humanitarian goods. It was also used to connect Stepanakert with Lisagor, Hin Shen, Mets Shen and Yeghtsahogh, villages around Shushi.