“International actors with their words and practical mechanisms should not contribute to the systematic political agenda of the forced subjugation of the people of the Republic of Artsakh by Azerbaijan,” Nelly Baghdasaryan, adviser on international relations to the President of the Republic of Artsakh, said in a conversation with Aravot.am, referring to the statements made by the CE President after the Nikol Pashinyan-Ilham Aliyev-Charles Michel tripartite meeting held in Brussels the other day. “I think that Charles Michel, the President of the Council of Europe, has enough political, legal, and advisory mandates received from the European structures to insist, first of all, on the fact that Azerbaijan blocked the Lachin Corridor and lifted the blockade of Nagorno Karabakh.
Instead, in the text of the statement, the humanitarian crisis in the Republic of Artsakh, which is consistently turning into a humanitarian disaster, is singled out as a “humanitarian burden” in a separate paragraph; in fact, the problem of unblocking the Lachin Corridor is represented by only one of its components,” said our interlocutor, drawing attention to the fact, that in the text of the CE President’s statement, in one case, the wording “Lachin Corridor” was used, which expresses the international legal status of the corridor; in the following case, “Lachin Road.”
“Moreover, the announcement created a dangerous correlation between Akna/Aghdam Road and Lachin Road. It is easy to understand how Azerbaijan can use this point, first of all making the offer to carry out supplies through Akna/Aghdam as an additional precondition for reopening the Lachin Corridor. Is Azerbaijan going to implement it in a difficult regime? The Republic of Artsakh firmly believes that the Lachin Corridor should be restarted within the framework of the obligations assumed by the parties in the Trilateral Declaration of November 9, 2020, without preconditions,” assures Nelly Baghdasaryan.
At the request of Aravot.am, referring to the statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry on the same day, ahead of the tripartite meeting, which contained quite undiplomatic wording, the Artsakh official said: “In the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry, reference was made to the RA position. The statements made by the Prime Minister of Armenia about the recognition the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan, were a heavy blow to the realization of the right to self-determination of the people of Artsakh, the liberation struggle, and their vision of the future.
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The people of Artsakh have not accepted this position and will never be accepted. The position and will of the people of the Republic of Artsakh should be the starting point for Armenia, Russia and international actors in general.” Nelly Baghdasaryan clarifies. “Due to the presence of the peacekeeping mission and the realities on the ground, Russia is in control of the situation in Artsakh, so we are waiting for practical steps.” In the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, the call to Azerbaijan to take urgent measures to unblock the Lachin Corridor, according to our interlocutor, is also due to the alarms from Artsakh, including the alarm content of the President of Artsakh twice in the last month.
Speaking about the widespread protests in Stepanakert’s Renaissance Square and responding to the claims that the Armenian political authorities direct them and are primarily directed against the Russian peacekeeping mission in Artsakh, Nelly Baghdasaryan said: “The overwhelming majority of the people of Artsakh believe that one of the ways out of the disastrous situation is to focus the attention of the international community on the blockade of the Republic of Artsakh, due to which a new wave of popular actions has started.
The people of Artsakh are facing the growing humanitarian disaster with dignity, which sometimes creates the impression for the outside world that it is a tolerable situation, but in fact, we have crossed the lines of tolerability a long time ago; there is a growing danger of starvation.”
According to the record of our interlocutor, the challenging security and humanitarian situation created in Artsakh is consistently worsening, and the statements and concerned calls of international actors do not receive practical manifestations. Azerbaijan continues to fail to fulfill the 2022 Interim Measure applied by the ECHR on December 21 and the decisions of the UN International Court of Justice from February 22 and July 6, 2023․
“During more than seven months of the siege of Artsakh, the international community has taken no practical steps towards the implementation of the key components of the international legal order: universal responsibility for the protection and international humanitarian assistance.
The created complicated situation can be resolved as a result of the pressure of the international individual and collective community and the use of coordinated practical mechanisms of international responsibility.
Azerbaijan’s agenda of using force and the threat of force and dictating political solutions under the pressure of unbearable human conditions must be ruled out. We expect recognition of Artsakh for the sake of salvation based on the norms and principles of international law,” concluded our interlocutor.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
