The US and the European Union called on Azerbaijan to restore movement along a vital road to the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh that’s been blocked by protesters for a third day.
(Bloomberg) — The US and the European Union called on Azerbaijan to restore movement along a vital road to the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh that’s been blocked by protesters for a third day.
A group of Azerbaijanis presenting themselves as environmental activists are facing off against Russian troops on the so-called Lachin corridor, the only route to Armenia for Nagorno-Karabakh’s majority Armenian population. The soldiers patrol the route under a truce brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin to end a 2020 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan that killed thousands.
“Closure of the Lachin corridor has severe humanitarian implications and sets back the peace process,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Twitter, urging negotiations. The EU expressed “serious concern” over the dispute and called on Azerbaijan to ensure movement on the route in line with the truce accord.
The road was closed by the Russian peacekeepers after the protesters appeared, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Hikmat Hajiyev, foreign policy aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, told foreign diplomats in Baku on Tuesday that Armenians were illegally exploiting gold and copper mines in Nagorno-Karabakh, and that Russian peacekeepers should intervene to stop it.
Both the US and the EU expressed concern at reports of a halt to gas supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian officials in the territory said supplies had been cut, something Azerbaijan’s state natural gas company Azarqaz denied.
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Nagorno-Karabakh faces an imminent threat of a food and humanitarian crisis, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The situation shows there are no security guarantees for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan, said Ruben Vardanyan, the former Moscow investment banker who last month became state minister heading the administration of Artsakh, the Armenian name for the territory.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, which took over part of the territory in the war as well as seven surrounding districts that were occupied by Armenians for decades. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in talks since then to try to reach a peace agreement, though the status of Nagorno-Karabakh remains a potential stumbling block to resolution of a conflict that first erupted during the Soviet Union’s collapse more than 30 years ago.
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