However, she says, this was only “medicine and baby formula” and not food supplies or hygiene items, which haven’t been delivered for a long time.
A 19-truck convoy carrying around 360 tonnes of much-needed humanitarian cargo from Armenia has been stuck at the entrance of the Lachin Corridor for the past two weeks, waiting for permission to pass through Azerbaijan’s checkpoint.
The clock is now ticking for those families in Karabakh struggling to access food, medicine and other necessities.
Dwindling medical supplies is a major concern. Armine Hayrapetyan, another resident of Stepanakert, says her aunt is diabetic and only has five pills left for lowering her blood sugar before she runs out completely.
“After that she doesn’t know what to do,” says the 45-year-old from her home. “We have lost our freedom, lost our rights. Now, it is like we are living in a concentration camp.”
There are also mounting fears of a crisis in antenatal care. In July, the Centre for Maternal and Child Health in Stepanakert reported that miscarriages had nearly tripled over the previous month, due to stress and a lack of a balanced diet.
State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, Gurgen Nersisyan, told Armenian Public TV that “over 90 per cent of pregnant women have anaemia”.
Irina Zakaryan, a lawyer, is six months pregnant and has a four-year-old son. The 29-year-old, who also lives in Stepanakert, has fainted due to a lack of nutrition and says she often feels a “sharp weakness” all over her body.
The absence of public transport due to the fuel shortage is making things worse. “Today, at 41C, I had to take my child on foot to kindergarten and then get to work, stand in line for bread, fruit and vegetables. I worried that I will suddenly faint again,” she says.
“My next visit to the maternity hospital will be very difficult, I have to walk from one end of the city to the other.”
She worries whether her baby will be healthy, how childbirth will be without the necessary drugs, and once the baby is born, “how am I going to feed it?”
UN experts have called on Azerbaijan to lift the blockade and for Russian peacekeeping forces to protect the corridor under the terms of the ceasefire agreement. Azerbaijan has so far ignored these calls and accused the UN of turning into “an instrument of political manipulation”.
The situation has been exacerbated by the invasion of Ukraine. With the world’s eyes fixed on the war, and with Russia distracted from its peacekeeping duties, Azerbaijan’s cease-fire violations have gone unpunished.
Laurence Broers, the Caucasus programme director at peacebuilding organisation Conciliation Resources, says the war in Ukraine has “greatly weakened Russian hegemony [in Nagorno-Karabakh] and has given ample space for Azerbaijan to challenge that hegemony”.
“Azerbaijan is absolutely taking advantage of the fact that Russia has its hands full elsewhere,” says Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Armenia.
“I have no doubt that this is part of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing programme, and whether it constitutes genocide at this stage – I mean it’s certainly one step away from it.”
Despite this, the UK has been reluctant to condemn Azerbaijan. On August 1, MPs from the APPG for Armenia wrote to Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, urging him to “break the British Government’s silence on the continuing atrocities”. No reply has yet to be received.
Loughton criticised the “distinct lack of a robust response” from the UK, highlighting that other countries, like France and the US, have publicly condemned Azerbaijan over the blockade.
“[The UK] need to make it clear that, one, this is unacceptable, and two, if they don’t do something about it then there will be consequences – that could start with sanctions against Azerbaijan,” he adds.
Economics could be fuelling Britain’s silence. The UK is the largest foreign investor in Azerbaijan, with British Petroleum (BP) having invested around $84 billion in the country over the last 30 years. “I think those [commercial] interests tend to trump other potentially ethical and moral issues in UK Foreign Policy vis à vis Azerbaijan,” says Broers.
For now, survival is the primary concern for the people of Karabakh, and with summer drawing to a close, they are already preparing for the colder months ahead.
“We want to collect whatever we can from our garden and save it for the winter,” says Nina. “But I know if the summer ends and the situation doesn’t become better … then people will be really, really angry. And we’re not going to stand by silently as they kill us.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/armenia-azerbaijan-nagorno-karabakh-blockade/