Pashinyan says Azerbaijan will allow residents of Nagorno-Karabakh to travel to Armenia and ban their re-entry
YEREVAN, August 24. /ARKA/. Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan told a government meeting today that he has received reliable information that Azerbaijan is planning to reopen the Lachin corridor for those residents of Nagorno-Karabakh that wish to travel to Armenia and ban their and other Nagorno-Karabakh residents' re-entry.
He said thousands of Nagorno-Karabakh residents are currently in Armenia being unable to return to their homes.
According to Pashinyan, about 5,000 Karabakh residents cannot return to Nagorno-Karabakh due to the illegal closure of the Lachin Corridor last December, and another 30,000 are still in Armenia because of Azerbaijan's failure to fulfill point 7 of the tripartite statement signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia in November, 2020.
'Azerbaijan's failure to fulfill this point and other facts continuously prove that Azerbaijan's main goal is to force Armenians out of Nagorno-Karabakh by means of ethnic cleansing, be it through starvation, military operation or other means,' Pashinyan said.
Pashinyan said there is information proving that Baku continues to torpedo dialogue with Stepanakert by various means, trying to place the responsibility on Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Armenia's position remains the same. Issues related to the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh should be addressed through the Baku-Stepanakert dialogue within the framework of international mechanisms,' Pashinyan said.
He added that it is also essential that point 7 of the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, which provides for the return of Karabakh refugees and internally displaced persons be implemented.
For about eight months now, 120,000 Armenians in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) have been under complete blockade of Azerbaijan with no food, medicine, fuel, gas or electricity.
The Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Artsakh with Armenia and the rest of the world was initially blocked by Azerbaijani government-sponsored fake “eco-activists” on December 12, 2022.
Azerbaijan officially institutionalized the blockage of the road by an illegal checkpoint installation on April 23, 2023, grossly violating its international obligations.
Azerbaijan continues to demonstrate a willful disregard for the provisions of the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020, the ECHR ruling of December 21, 2023, as well as ICJ orders issued on February 22 and July 6, 2023, calling on Azerbaijan to urgently “take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.” -0--
