11:04,
YEREVAN, JULY 25, ARMENPRESS. System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian has drafted an open letter calling on Azerbaijan to open the Lachin Corridor and end the oppression of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The letter is also signed by musicians such as Peter Gabriel, Roger Waters, Tom Morello, and Stewart Copeland, Arsinee Khanjian as well as other notable entertainment industry figures.
In an interview with SPIN, Tankian said that more than 120,000 people are without critical food and medical supplies due to Azerbaijan’s seven-month blockade of the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.
“The residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have since relied on humanitarian aid from Russian peacekeeping forces and the Red Cross,” reads the letter. “Azerbaijani soldiers are now blocking the entry and exit of aid convoys and the humanitarian crisis is worsening. In shops, essential food items are running out. Hospitals have an acute shortage of drugs and medical supplies. In February, the [United Nations’] top judiciary body, the ICJ [International Court of Justice], ordered Azerbaijan to ensure free movement on the road. Azerbaijan continues to ignore the ruling. We, the undersigned, join Amnesty International and the UN’s International Court of Justice in calling upon the government of Azerbaijan to open the Lachin corridor to all movement and cease the from the oppression of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“Everyone is supporting opening the blockade, from the United States to the State Department to the European Union, but it’s all talk,” Tankian told SPIN. “But while people are starving, telling a dictatorial regime to open up an illegal blockade is not going to help them survive. They’re just words. There’s no actions, and that’s the issue. Everyone has already condemned it, but no one is doing anything. For example, USAID [United States Agency for International Development] could easily tell Azerbaijan, we’re going to fly in supplies. They have an office in Armenia, and the Armenian government has supplies that have been sitting around. We’ve been trying to reach out to [USAID administrator] Samantha Power to get her attention on the issue, and she’s aware of it, because she posted about it on Twitter.”
“Most people read about Ukraine everyday in the press but don’t know that this is even happening,” Tankian says of the Nagorno-Karabagh crisis. “[Ukrainian president] Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Twitter praised Azerbaijan and their corrupt, fascist dictatorial leader Ilham Aliyev for helping Ukraine with energy supplies. So be it, but at the same time, the same dictatorial leader has put a chokehold on these people in Armenia and has invaded our proper, United Nations-recognized territories. He’s taken about 150 kilometers and his soldiers aren’t backing up. We’re being hypocritical as an international community, because we can’t sacrifice one country for another. It’s not right.”
Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of the world, has been blocked by Azerbaijan since late 2022. The Azerbaijani blockade constitutes a gross violation of the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh ceasefire agreement, which established that the 5km-wide Lachin Corridor shall be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Furthermore, on February 22, 2023 the United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. Azerbaijan has been ignoring the order ever since. Moreover, Azerbaijan then illegally installed a checkpoint on Lachin Corridor. The blockade has led to shortages of essential products such as food and medication. Azerbaijan has also cut off gas and power supply into Nagorno Karabakh, with officials warning that Baku seeks to commit ethnic cleansing against Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh. Hospitals have suspended normal operations and the Red Cross has been facilitating the medical evacuations of patients.