On July 21, a group of journalists from Armenia and other countries working in Armenia went to the Hakari Bridge at the invitation of Margarita Karamyan, the president of the “Back to Dizak” NGO, born in Artsakh, and journalist Armine Martirosyan, who is also from Artsakh. Ms. Margarita and Armine have been deprived of seeing their relatives and family members for seven months under the total blockade of Artsakh.
The Azeri press fills the vacuum of the information field with false news that Armenian civilians, as well as humanitarian goods and cargo, pass uninterruptedly from Armenia to Artsakh and in the opposite direction on the road passing through the Hakari Bridge bypassing the Lachin Corridor.
Today, we went to the Hakari Bridge to show the world that Azerbaijan’s checkpoint on the Hakari Bridge was illegal because that bypass road is only one part of the Lachin Corridor. Two-way traffic through the corridor should be free, unhindered, and no checkpoint should have been installed, and also that the rumors spread by Azerbaijan about two-way traffic are false and lies.
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With the permission we received from the National Security Service of Armenia, we almost reached the border of Armenia with Artsakh, where there is a roadblock, and the border guard forces of Armenia perform service there.
However, they did not allow us to go beyond the checkpoint due to security issues, and they also commented that beyond the checkpoint is a neutral area under the control of Russian peacekeepers. We waited at the checkpoint for more than three hours but could not contact the Russian peacekeepers and continued the road to Stepanakert accompanied by them. It was also interesting that for more than three hours, not a single vehicle, be it a passenger, Red Cross, or Russian peacekeeping forces, passed through that new road of the Hakari Bridge to Artsakh and from Artsakh to Armenia. We witnessed that the new road is closed and does not work.
Ashot HAKOBYAN
