It is already the 16th day that the security of the Armenian population of Artsakh has been under threat. The only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia and the outside world remains illegally blocked by Azerbaijan under the false pretext of “environmental” concerns.
As a result of Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor, a humanitarian crisis has been created in Nagorno-Karabakh. The blockade of Artsakh has violated the fundamental rights of thousands of Artsakh Armenians. The 120,000 residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, including children, have been deprived of their basic rights to freedom of movement, education, healthcare services and others, while the free supply of food, medicine and other essential goods has been disrupted.
It is evident that Azerbaijan, by grossly violating point 6 of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement, as well as its commitments arising from international human rights law, continues through these and its previous actions a provocative policy, with the aim of creating a humanitarian disaster and deliberately escalating the situation.
All this testifies that today Artsakh faces an existential threat. Our people face the danger of a new genocide, which must be prevented, particularly through the recognition by the international community of the right of the Armenians of Artsakh to free self-determination.
Therefore, the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party considers the events taking place in the Lachin Corridor unacceptable and strongly condemns Azerbaijan’s genocidal policy aimed at the depopulation of Armenians.
We call on the Russian Federation to fully carry out its mission of ensuring uninterrupted traffic through the Lachin Corridor, which is under the control of the Russian peacekeeping forces.
We emphasize the necessity of implementing monitoring of the humanitarian situation in Artsakh by other international formats — the UN, the OSCE and the EU.
We once again stress the continued involvement of the international community in guaranteeing the security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. We expect that, beyond their calls, they will compel Azerbaijan to respect its assumed obligations and immediately unblock the lifeline of Artsakh — the Lachin Corridor.
Being fully aware that under the present conditions of unequal power Azerbaijan’s preference is war, and that it is trying by every means to move the resolution of the issue into the domain of force, we call on the entire Armenian nation to refrain from statements that divide the public and weaken the state’s positions, and to exert every effort to keep the resolution of the Artsakh issue within the diplomatic domain.
We express our full solidarity with our compatriots in Artsakh.
We express our gratitude to those representatives of the international community who, with targeted responses, stand by the side of Artsakh, the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people.
“Ramgavar Press”
