“We have been under siege for 52 days now; we communicate with the world only through Red Cross vehicles and Russian peacekeepers who bring food and medicine,” State Minister of Republic of Artsakh Ruben Vardanyan announced during an online meeting organized by Peace-building and Human Rights Institute of Columbia University and titled as “Prevention of the Second Armenian Genocide, Azerbaijan continues to block the Lachin Corridor.”
Ruben Vardanyan, countering the Azerbaijani claims that the Lachin Corridor is open, stated that before the blockade, thousands of cars used to pass through the Lachin Corridor every day, but during the whole period of the blockade, fewer cars passed that road than in one day before.
He stated that families continue to be far from each other, schools and kindergartens do not work in Artsakh, there are power outages every two hours, the gas supply is also cut off, and he noted: “Yes, we have food, we are not dying of hunger, part of that food is from our reserves, Russian peacekeepers brought the other part, we received medicine from the Red Cross, but all of it is not in normal conditions, there are no normal conditions for human life. It is challenging for us to respond to the current situation and a more serious and deep crisis.” He assured that people in Artsakh resist despite all this; they have become more united these days. Ruben Vardanyan thanked the RA government for its support and noted: “It is not easy for them to support us. As the RA Prime Minister mentioned, the potential genocide must be prevented. At The Hague Court, the United Nations, and other organizations, support is provided by Armenia. We are one nation that has been together for years, and we feel we are not alone. We also receive support from the Diaspora, Russia, France, and the USA.”
Ruben Vardanyan assured that this is not an ethnic dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, nor a religious one, and continued. “This is a conflict between democracy and dictatorship. People understand that this small country, Artsakh, is very democratic and civilized; we have developed a transparent and democratic system, elections, president, opposition, and political society. And this is in contrast to Azerbaijan, which one family rules, even their citizens have no rights, let alone national minorities.”
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Referring to the presentation of the Azerbaijani side that the issue of the Lachin Corridor is an ecological issue, he noted: “We have said that we do not see a problem; if international experts want to come and carry out inspections in our mining businesses, let them do it, but we also wish to academic research to be carried out to find out how many demonstrations took place in Azerbaijan last year with environmental issues, did those activists go out on the street, were they allowed to raise their voices? Ruben Vardanyan announced that we are ready for negotiations, discussions, and peace; it should be a bilateral process and emphasized. “We are ready to live alongside Azerbaijan, but not under one state system.”
The Minister of State of Artsakh stated that the whole world is attentively following what is happening in Artsakh. About 40,000 articles have been published on this topic.
He especially emphasized that the pressure on Azerbaijan should increase, the organizers of all this should be held responsible, and Azerbaijan should be subject to sanctions.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
