Thousands of people rallied in Stepanakert on December 25 to demand that Azerbaijan unblock the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.
Karabakh’s political leaders, who organized the rally, struck a defiant note as they addressed the crowd that gathered in the city’s central square on the 14th day of the road blockade that has led to serious shortages of food, medicines, and other basic goods in the Armenian-populated region.
They appealed to the international community for urgent intervention in the face of what they see as Azerbaijani efforts to drive Karabakh Armenians out of their homeland.
Ruben Vardanian, Karabakh’s de facto premier, said the local population has been left with three options.
“First, we submit and sooner or later integrate into Azerbaijan,” Vardanian said in a speech. “Second, we get out of here. Third, we fight.”
“I made my decision on September 2,” he said, referring to the date of his relocation from Armenia to Karabakh. “I’m here, I’m fighting, and I’m not going to leave or obey Azerbaijan’s conditions.”
The Karabakh protest came amid what appears to be growing international pressure exerted on Azerbaijan.
French President Emmanuel Macron urged Baku to “allow free movement along the Lachin Corridor” when he phoned his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, on December 23. According to the French readout of the call, Aliyev expressed his “intention” to do so.
However, Aliyev’s press office quoted him as defending the Azerbaijanis who closed the corridor on December 12 ostensibly on environmental grounds. It said he told Macron that they are right to protest against “illegal” mining activities in Karabakh.
The road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia was blocked by a group of Azerbaijani protesters demanding that Baku be allowed to inspect Karabakh ore mines, calling attention to what Azerbaijan says is illegal mining in Nagorno-Karabakh and the use of the road to transport the minerals to Armenia.
The authorities in Yerevan and Stepanakert have condemned the blockade as a violation of the 2020 cease-fire agreement that placed the Lachin Corridor under the control of Russian peacekeepers.
Aliyev also spoke on December 23 by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin’s readout of the call made no mention of the blockade.
Speaking in Baku on December 24, Aliyev said he would not bow to the international pressure. “Nobody can influence us,” he said.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, phoned Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov on December 24 for the second time in three days. Borrell later tweeted that they discussed “the need for freedom of movement and humanitarian access through the Lachin Corridor.” He described the conversation as “constructive.”
Issued on: 25/12/2022 -
Stepanakert's main Renaissance Square was flooded with protesters on Sunday, with a giant Armenian flag hoisted above the crowd.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, who went to war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in autumn 2020, have recently argued over the Lachin corridor.
For nearly two weeks Azerbaijani activists have blocked the corridor, the only land link to Armenia, to protest what they claim is illegal mining.
Yerevan has accused Baku of staging demonstrations and creating a humanitarian crisis in the mountainous enclave.
Armenia's parliament has said Karabakh was suffering from shortages of food, medicine and fuel following the closure of the corridor.
Azerbaijan insists there is no blockade and that civilian cars can move freely to and out of Karabakh.
"This is the only road that connects Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) with the rest of the world. Not only Armenia, we reach the rest of the world through Armenia," 70-year-old Stepanakert resident Donara Gabrielyan told AFP on Saturday.
Armenia also said Russian peacekeepers deployed in the region were failing to prevent the blockade.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who called for de-escalation on Friday, said the Russian peacekeeping contingent was "clearly fulfilling its tasks" while working in "very difficult conditions".
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-week war in autumn 2020.
The fighting claimed more than 6,500 lives and ended with a Russian-brokered truce that saw Yerevan cede territories it had controlled for decades.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives.
Thousands rally in Nagorno-Karabakh to
Issued on: 25/12/2022 -
Stepanakert (Azerbaijan) (AFP) – Thousands rallied on Sunday in Azerbaijan, in the Nagorno-Karabakh region's largest city Stepanakert, to protest the blockade of the only land link to Armenia, an AFP journalist saw.
On Sunday, under a bright sun, Stepanakert's main Renaissance Square was flooded with protesters, with a giant Armenian flag hoisted above the crowd.
"On this holy Christmas day, we are standing here and call for action, the deliberate blockade of 120,000 people is a crime against humanity," Asatryan said, addressing the crowd on loudspeakers.
The protests went smoothly, an AFP journalist said. Among the attendees was separatist leader Arayik Harutyunyan.
In the crowd, a small girl in a pink coat held a sign that read "Open the 'road of life'".
Others held banners calling for "self-determination" and bearing the slogan "we won't give up".
Armenia's parliament has said Karabakh was suffering from shortages of food, medicine and fuel following the closure of the corridor.
Azerbaijan insists there is no blockade and that civilian cars can move freely to and out of Karabakh.
"There is no basis for the claims that the protests on Lachin pose a threat of humanitarian crisis," Azerbaijan's foreign ministry said in a statement published Sunday.
But residents who spoke to AFP were worried.
"This is the only road that connects Artsakh with the rest of the world. Not only Armenia, we reach the rest of the world through Armenia," 70-year-old Stepanakert resident Donara Gabrielyan told AFP on Saturday.
International concern
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-week war in autumn 2020.
The fighting claimed more than 6,500 lives and ended with a Russian-brokered truce that saw Yerevan cede territories it had controlled for decades.
But Moscow is embroiled in a 10-month-long Ukraine offensive, and Armenia has said Russian peacekeepers deployed in the region were failing to prevent the blockade.
Armenia's Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev are expected at a gathering of the leaders of the post-Soviet sovereign states in Saint Petersburg next week.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state-run news agency Interfax Sunday that a tripartite meeting with the Russian president on the sidelines of the summit was "not envisaged".
With Moscow increasingly isolated on the world stage following its February offensive on Ukraine, the United States and the European Union attempted to mediate.
Talks in Brussels planned in December between Yerevan and Baku were cancelled after Azerbaijan accused France of backing Armenia in the decades-long conflict.
Nevertheless, French President Emmanuel Macron called his Azerbaijani counterpart to call for "allowing free movement along the Lachin corridor", according to an Elysee press statement.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives.
© 2022 AFP
Thousands rally in Nagorno-Karabakh to protest blockade of Lachin corridor
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