Regarding the status and fate of the Berdzor Corridor, the depopulation of the Berdzor city, Aghavno, and Sus communities, the deputies of the opposition factions of Artsakh requested a meeting with the leadership of the Russian peacekeeping mission, but the dates are still unclear. “The working week has just begun, although our concepts of “day off” or “working week” are not understood. In any case, we are waiting for an answer. They have not appointed a day,” Metakse Hakobyan, deputy of Artsakh NA “Justice” faction, said in a conversation with Aravot.am.
We asked to clarify what questions are going to be raised and what clarifications are needed. Our interlocutor first mentioned, “Since February 2022, we have been talking about Aghavno, Berdzor, and Shushi, talking about the alternative road bypassing Berdzor, which they are trying to force us under the name of “corridor.” Meanwhile, it does not have any status. There should be a tripartite agreement defined by the statement of November 9, that is, RA, RF and Azerbaijan should put their signatures on fixing the status of the corridor. In fact, now the authorities of RA and Artsakh, lying and misleading the people, under the name of some “Artsakh-Azerbaijani negotiations” want to convince that it has the status of a corridor, while there is no such thing.
Maxim Seleznyov, adviser of the Russian Embassy in Armenia, said the other day that “Russian peacekeepers will be relocated in the Lachin Corridor when the new road is ready.” What questions do the deputies have on this occasion? Metakse Hakobyan said, “Everything is clear from that statement. It turns out that two of the three parties, RA and Azerbaijan, have some kind of verbal agreements, which are clearly behind the back of the Russian Federation. As a result of this, also taking advantage of the current state of the Russian Federation, they came to verbal agreements, while there are three signatures under the statement of November 9, and everything should be done jointly. Russia does not exist in such a situation. This is what is understood from the words of the messenger.
Additional clarifications are needed after that statement. If before we stated that we do not need to meet with the Russian peacekeeping troops, because all the demands must be conveyed by our authorities, now it turns out that they did not even convey the demands. There is no question of trust in this situation. There is a demand to organize a meeting and to hear from the leadership of the Russian peacekeeping mission, to understand what status will be given to that alternative road to Berdzor.
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It does not fit into the requirements of point 6 of the statement of November 9. Meanwhile, Arayik Harutyunyan recently said, “You know what a good road it is, how well it has been built…that is, it is a “herd of sheep” that will be dragged along this “good road” here and there whenever they want to close it or do whatever they want. This is when we saw how Azerbaijan cut off the gas. They do as they please. Therefore, clear guarantees are needed.”
According to the deputy, the situation is unclear. “From the words of the ambassador of the Russian Federation, it appears that Berdzor, Aghavno, and Sus should not have been surrendered at least for another year. However, during this time, by the order of the RA government, the Artsakh government carefully dismantled those three communities and handed them over to the enemy. I saw this with my own eyes, not with what someone told me.
Our demand is to fix the status of the corridor in the format of a tripartite statement.” We noticed that it is not clear from Maxim Seleznyov’s statement whether the Russian peacekeepers will stay after August 25 to ensure the safety of the residents of Berdzor and Aghavno who do not want to leave the settlement. Metakse Hakobyan responded, “First of all, the authorities put good pressure on the residents and they have already left. People were left without gas and electricity. Not yesterday, on the first day, the employee of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure took away the generator to his satisfaction, naturally, at the order of his superiors. People don’t even have a chance to protect themselves in the dark, of course it’s dangerous. All communications are down, there is no means of communication. Yesterday, the last people, a few people, left the communities. This is Nikoli’s verbal agreement with his brother Aliyev. He promised him that on the day of Azerbaijan’s independence, they would take their piece of rag and plant it in Berdzor.
We also asked about how there are reports in the press that Azerbaijan has threatened to send troops into Berdzor if the residents continue to burn the houses. Metakse Hakobyan conveyed that she was in constant contact on the spot and did not have such information. She also reported that the location of the Russian peacekeeping mission near Aghavno was dismantled ten days ago, and the location of Berdzor is still there. “This also gives reason to doubt that everything was done by the order of the government, as a result of the agreement. Everything I have seen with my own eyes makes me even more convinced that they tried to bypass the Russian side as a result of the Azerbaijan-Armenian agreement.” Although the tripartite declaration of November 9 does not provide for the depopulation of the Berdzor corridor, the residents of Berdzor city, Sus, and Aghavno communities were instructed by the Artsakh authorities to leave their settlements until August 25.
PS: Aravot.am has sent a written request to the Russian Embassy in RA in the hope of clarifying some questions about the situation, and we will publish it if we receive the answer.
Luiza Sukiasyan
