Azerbaijan installed a concrete barrier on the Lachin Corridor on June 22
Leading civic organizations in Armenia issued a statement sounding the alarm about the European Union’s continued support for Azerbaijan, the latest manifestation of which came through a statement by European Council President Charles Michel, who backed Baku’s scheme to send humanitarian aid to Artsakh via Aghdam (Akna), bypassing Armenia.
Michel told reporters following a meeting he hosted between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on Saturday that the Aghdam option should be considered while calling on Baku to open the Lachin Corridor.
“We are concerned that the announcement equates the Lachin Corridor to Aghdam as an option to address the current humanitarian crisis. This proposal ignores the fact that the source of the humanitarian crisis is Azerbaijan’s continued blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, subjecting its population to famine and malnutrition to force them to submit to their demands, or worse, push them physically out of the territory,” said the statement.
“Furthermore, it does not solve other ongoing violations of human rights, including freedom of movement, access to health services, access to education, etc. We fear that should this proposal be pursued, it will worsen the current dire situation, putting the lives of people in Nagorno-Karabakh at risk,” the statement added.
“There is no alternative to the Lachin Corridor,” the groups said, adding that the International Court of Justice has confirmed the importance of ensuring unimpeded movement along the road in its order, which was reaffirmed earlier this month. Azerbaijan continued to ignore this order.
“Instead of addressing the root cause of the humanitarian crisis, the discussion of ‘alternative’ routes, such as Aghdam, diverts the international community’s attention from the source of the problem – the illegal blockade of a humanitarian corridor and the policy of ethnic cleansing by the Azerbaijani government,” explained the civic groups.
“Making the Aghdam road operational would directly support this policy by giving additional political and economic leverage to Azerbaijan over the Armenian population in Karabakh and further undermine their rights,” the statement added.
“Using hunger as a negotiation tactic should not be normalized,” the civic groups emphasized. “If the current situation of a total blockade persists, the act of offering food and supplies through Aghdam is tantamount to taking hostages and undermines any efforts to build trust between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan within the context of a possible Baku-Stepanakert dialogue.”
“Should the international community yield to Azerbaijan’s unlawful actions and clear intentions of ethnic cleansing, it would effectively validate the wrongful closure of the Lachin Corridor and the captivity of 120,000 individuals since December 2022. Furthermore, this endorsement would legitimize the non-adherence to the ICJ’s order and discredit all existing and future agreements or international legal rulings,” the statement asserted.
In his statement ton Saturday, Michel also referred to efforts to facilitate the release of soldiers who inadvertently cross to the other side.
“While this is an important issue,” the civic organizations said, “it is crucial that the fate of all detainees and prisoners of war is not forgotten.”
“There are at least 35 confirmed prisoners of war and other civilian detainees in Azerbaijan. There have been reliable reports that they have been subjected to torture and inhuman and degrading treatment. Two of them were kidnapped earlier this year from Armenia proper, and the court in Azerbaijan sentenced them to lengthy prison sentences for ‘trespassing’ for allegedly attempting to supply a group of ‘saboteurs’ and for ‘armed terrorism conspiracy,’” the statement pointed out.
“Similar sham trials have also occurred in relation with other detainees captured during and after the 44-day war. It is obvious that access to justice is impossible under the current circumstances. Moreover, Azerbaijan appears to hold these detainees as a bargaining chip during the process of negotiations,” added the groups.
The civic organizations called on the international community to “prioritize efforts to immediately unblock the Lachin Corridor in accordance with the ICJ ruling, unite efforts in facilitating the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of war and other detained persons.”