17:06, 5 April 2023

YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. The former State Minister of Nagorno Karabakh Artak Beglaryan revealed new details on the April 4 incident in the Lachin Corridor when Azerbaijan breached a pre-arranged agreement with Russian peacekeepers and barred stranded Nagorno Karabakh citizens from returning from Armenia amid its blockade of Nagorno Karabakh. 

Beglaryan said that the Azerbaijani government agents posing as eco-activists, who’ve been blocking the corridor for already 115 days, demanded the group of 27 civilians – mostly women, elderly and children – to “accept Azerbaijani citizenship” and get frisked in exchange of passage.

Below is the full statement issued by Beglaryan.

“Key facts on the incident: Azerbaijani government agents (“eco”-terrorists) yesterday blocked the movement of 27 Artsakh civilians from Armenia to Artsakh.

1. The civilian group, comprised mostly of women, elderly and children, was taken from Goris city in Armenia with two vehicles of Russian peacekeepers to reunite with their families.
2. They were stuck in Armenia due to the ongoing Artsakh blockade, which has already lasted for 115 days.
3. They were stopped at the point of the Artsakh blockade near Shushi by Azerbaijani government agents (“eco”-terrorists).
4. For over five hours, Russian peacekeepers negotiated with the Azerbaijani side to open the road for the group, but no success was achieved.
5. The Azerbaijanis intimidated the people in the vehicles by breaking into one of the cars and using threats.
6. They put forward pre-conditions for giving access: to “accept Azerbaijani citizenship” and to check everyone.
7. Twenty-three out of the 27 people returned to Goris at night without having access to their homeland.
8. As a result of Azerbaijani intimidation, the health situation of four women sharply worsened, and three of them fainted.
9. The accompanying peacekeepers called an ambulance and transferred those four to the Stepanakert hospital with Russian and Azerbaijani vehicles.
10. The Azerbaijani side did not allow peacekeepers to bring and use the Artsakh ambulance and attempted to transfer the patients to the Shushi hospital under Azerbaijani control. However, the people protested and demanded that the patients be transferred to Stepanakert instead.
11. This is another manifestation of the Azerbaijani full blockade of Artsakh, and they block especially the entrance to the Artsakh people, not only while traveling with their own cars but often with Russian peacekeepers and Red Cross accompaniment, as it happened yesterday.
12. They sometimes create fewer obstacles to exit, as Aliyev stated on January 10, because their apparent purpose is to make ethnic cleansing of the Artsakh people.
13. The Aliyev dictatorial regime ignores not only the 2020 November 9 trilateral statement but also the binding order of the UN International Court of Justice to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.
14. With the state policy of racial/ethnic discrimination and hatred in Azerbaijan and its regular manifestations, the international community should understand the level of existential threats against the Artsakh people under any kind of Azerbaijani control.
15. The ongoing blockade and hatred-motivated periodic crimes and psychological terror by Azerbaijan, as well as the failure of the international community to effectively protect the Artsakh people and prevent new crimes, require urgent, strong, and practical steps to ensure the proper protection of the security and rights of the Artsakh people, including the right to self-determination.”