Azerbaijan Intends to Close the Lachin Corridor. Alen Simonyan

MOSCOW –Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan said today during a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Parliamentary Assembly, that Azerbaijan is planning to close the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia..

“The Lachin corridor is the only full-fledged road of humanitarian significance for the livelihood of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians,” he added during the meeting held in Moscow.

Simonyan added that since the previous meeting of the CSTO PA the military and political situation in the South Caucasus has deteriorated and there are developments which undermine stability and regional security.

The Armenian parliament press office said Simonyan spoke in detail about Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia, invasion of its troops of Armenia in September, occupying parts of the sovereign territory of the country.

Simonyan stressed that the bellicose rhetoric of official Baku testifies to Azerbaijan’s expansionist ambitions.

“In this difficult situation, the military and political support of our CSTO partners was extremely important for Armenia, and the Armenian side outlined its expectations,” Simonyan said.

He noted that Armenia is waiting for a clear political assessment by the CSTO of the September escalation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, as well as the adoption of a road map to restore Armenia’s territorial integrity after Azerbaijan’s aggression.

Simonyan stressed that today there are armed forces of a third country in the CSTO zone of responsibility, and he does not know how this can be explained and how CSTO partners see this situation developing, when almost every day Azerbaijan violates the ceasefire, resulting in the deaths of Armenians.

He said also that Armenia has never made statements about withdrawal from the CSTO, but it has been said that the CSTO is withdrawing from the region, which worries Armenia.