Supreme Patriarch Karekin II condemns Azerbaijan's blockade of Artsakh

YEREVAN, April 24. /ARKA/. The Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II condemned Azerbaijan's blockade of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

Speaking to journalists at the 1915 Armenian Genocide Memorial Karekin II said: "Yesterday we learned about this criminal action that the Azerbaijani authorities are taking against our children in Artsakh. The aim is very concrete - to expel Armenians from Artsakh and take possession of it. We condemn such inhuman actions which are periodically taken against our people in Artsakh," he said.

On April 23, Azerbaijan established a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers. Armenian and Artsakh authorities condemned these actions and called on Moscow to eliminate this violation of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020 by Baku.

"We call on Russia to fulfill its commitments by making Azerbaijan withdraw its forces from the entire security zone of the Lachin corridor, and also call on UN member states with a mandate to maintain international security to take effective steps to make Azerbaijan respect the binding decision of the UN International Court of Justice that ordered Azerbaijan to lift the blockade of the corridor," Armenian parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan said in a tweet. -0-