NKR Foreign Minister: Agreeing to the Opening of an “Alternative Road” Will Legitimize the Blockade of Lachin Corridor

STEPANAKET — Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Minister Sergey Ghazaryan has thanked the countries that called out Azerbaijan during the August 16 UN Security Council meeting for blockading Lachin Corridor, but at the same time expressed concern about the positions of some other countries.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the representatives of those countries that have given clear wordings to Azerbaijan’s policy and the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor,” Ghazaryan said at a press conference on Friday.

“At the same time, we are concerned about the attempts of a number of countries to equalize the Lachin Corridor with some other roads and transport connections, which is inadmissible and doesn’t match the parameters of the Lachin Corridor defined under the 9 November 2020 document. I have to note that convening this emergency meeting of the UNSC is just the beginning, and this process will continue. In terms of capabilities, indeed, the UNSC is the body that has both the jurisdiction and powers to prevent the kind of genocidal policy we see from Azerbaijan,” Ghazaryan said.

The international community must take clear steps to suppress the Azerbaijani side, which has deliberately chosen the method of starvation to commit genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh, Ghazaryan warned citing the report by former ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.

Ghazaryan  emphasized that Nagorno-Karabakh is most eager to achieve a comprehensive settlement to conflict with Azerbaijan through peaceful negotiations.

“We must note a few important facts here. Firstly, such talks must proceed as part of an international format, which would allow the parties involved to see that the negotiations are proceeding in line with norms and requirements of international law. Secondly, clear guarantees must be stipulated that the parties shall implement their obligations, given that we have the 9 November document which includes the signature of Azerbaijan’s President, which doesn’t function,” Ghazaryan said.

He said that he received an offer to meet with Azeri representatives in a third country planned for early August, but Azerbaijan cancelled its participation.

Another offer was made to meet in Yevlakh. “We received a proposal to meet in Yevlakh. But as you know, our countryman, Vagif Khachatryan, was kidnapped by the Azerbaijani forces while being transported by the ICRC to Armenia. In this logic, any meeting, especially without international mediators and the presence of a third party, in Azerbaijani territory, is impossible. Let me add that the Nagorno-Karabakh side is regularly conveying through the Russian peacekeepers proposals to hold meetings, which are ignored by Azerbaijan. The latest such meeting took place on March 1, when technical and humanitarian issues were discussed, but the Azerbaijani side attempted to distort the content of that meeting, and on March 5 we saw the Azerbaijani side’s raid, when three police officers were killed and one was wounded,” the foreign minister of Artsakh said.