“Hayastan” All Armenian Fund: Immediate Efforts Are Required for Operating the Stepanakert Airport for Airlift of Emergency Humanitarian Aid

YEREVAN — The complete blockade of the Nagorno-Karabakh people by Azerbaijan, which started back on 12 December 2022, in gross violation of the regime set for the Lachin corridor in the Trilateral Statement dated 9 November 2020, and closing up the lifeline that links Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of the world, has posed a serious existential threat for approximately 120,000 Armenians living there. By doing so, Azerbaijan is at least creating a ground for forced displacement, thereby conducting a clear policy of ethnic cleansing.

The population of Nagorno-Karabakh remains hostage in the hands of a country that, despite its aspiration to be closer to Europe, is through such actions rudely violating and neglecting universal civilizational values.

The protracted blockade of the Lachin corridor has led to a growing humanitarian crisis that can turn into a humanitarian catastrophe. The shortage of essential commodities, food, and medicines has become tangible. In effect, the whole population of Nagorno-Karabakh has been deprived of the right to freedom of movement; thousands of people, including children, are stranded during the cold winter months, and many families have been forced to split finding themselves on different sides of the blockade.
Azerbaijan must immediately discontinue the blockade of the Lachin corridor and, in line with its commitments, guarantee the free movement of the Nagorno-Karabakh residents and to secure vehicles and cargo traffic along this lifeline.

We urge all advanced humanity and the respective international organizations to make all efforts to prevent a potential new genocide and to defend all the fundamental rights of the Nagorno-Karabakh population.

We urge the United Nations Secretary General, other international organizations, and the concerned states to make immediate efforts for operating the Stepanakert Airport and putting in place guarantees for delivering emergency humanitarian aid to the Nagorno-Karabakh population by air.

We reiterate the continued commitment of the “Hayastan” All Armenian Fund to its mission, which is entirely based on universal values and humanitarian principles.