It has already been 7 months since the Azerbaijani authorities illegally blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only access to the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the South Caucasus. Since then, 120,000 people have been completely isolated, without supplies and escape routes to save themselves. Azerbaijan has also cut off supplies of water, gas and electricity. And in recent days it has also blocked the means of the International Red Cross that were trying to bring aid to civilians. Despite appeals from Europe and the United States to break the isolation of the small Armenian enclave, the Azerbaijani army continues its military offensive undisturbed, violating the ceasefire agreements signed in 2020 after the 44-day war.
Ethnic cleansing
«All the actions undertaken by Azerbaijan in recent months, from the demonstrations of fake eco-activists (including sympathizers of the Turkish terrorist formation of the Gray Wolves, ed) to the installation of an illegal checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor, are clearly planned to create impossible living conditions for the population of Nagorno Karabakh: an authentic operation of ethnic cleansing is underway» denounces the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs bluntly.
“Baku not only breaks the truce signed three years ago, but also ignores the resolutions adopted by many parliaments (including the European one, ed) and by the International Court of Justice against the closure of the Lachin Corridor”. On 6 July, the International Tribunal in The Hague once again ordered Azerbaijan to immediately reopen the crossing “because denying the right to free movement of persons, vehicles and goods plausibly constitutes racial discrimination”. This appeal has again fallen on deaf ears because Nagorno Karabakh remains completely isolated, surrounded by Azerbaijani military forces and devoid of any external connections. The Russian interposition force, which was supposed to guarantee access to and security of Karabakh on the basis of the agreements signed by Yerevan, Baku and Moscow, continues to be of no use.
«Previously, an average of 400 tons of foodstuffs passed daily from Lachin to Karabakh. Then from 7 December 2022 the illegal checkpoint placed by Azerbaijan reduced supplies to a tenth. Since June 15, supplies have been completely cut off» confirm the Armenian authorities.
Humanitarian disaster
The situation is disastrous because the food stocks in the warehouses are now reduced to a flicker, the shops are empty, the lines for rationing are long. There is also a shortage of medicines and oxygen in hospitals. Furthermore, Azerbaijan is preventing the transfer of the most seriously ill to Armenia, a fact which is causing an increase in mortality rates, especially among the weakest segments of the population.
“Before the total blockade, only a few people managed to reach Armenia to receive urgent treatment thanks to the International Committee of the Red Cross,” says a government official. «The sick and their companions were subjected to humiliating control procedures and degrading treatments: they were filmed and subsequently those images were exploited by Azerbaijani propaganda to demonstrate the normal opening of the passage to Lachin. But it was just a fabrication, a falsehood, disinformation» denounces Yerevan pointing the finger at the international community and humanitarian organizations «unable to gain access to Nagorno Karabakh to conduct an adequate fact-finding mission and provide humanitarian aid».
The appeal to the UN
Armenia also appeals to the United Nations Security Council (chaired by Russia responsible for the massacres and destruction taking place in Ukraine) to “use all the tools at its disposal to ensure the implementation of the orders of the International Court of Justice, prevent the humanitarian catastrophe and stop the ethnic cleansing in Nagorno Karabakh”. Harsh, clear words, an appeal almost out of time “to the civilized world which cannot and must not tolerate such actions, just as it must not accept contempt for the legally binding orders of the Hague Tribunal”. Words that on Friday 14 July were again drowned out by the roar of Azerbaijani batteries on the peaceful villages of Nagorno Karabakh. Words then sunk into the umpteenth silence of the international community.
https://www.breakinglatest.news/world/caucasus-the-agony-of-nagorno-karabakh-held-hostage-by-azerbaijan-for-seven-months/