U.S. once again urges Azerbaijan to restore free passage through Lachin corridor - State Department
YEREVAN, August 16. /ARKA/. The US Department of State calla on the Azerbaijani government to restore free passage of commercial, humanitarian and private vehicles through the Lachin corridor, State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel told an August 15 press briefing.
‘We remain deeply concerned about the continued closure of the Lachin corridor, specifically its closure to commercial, humanitarian, and private vehicles. The halting of this kind of humanitarian traffic, in our opinion, it worsens the humanitarian situation and it undermines the efforts that have been in place to build confidence in the peace process. And so we urge the Government of Azerbaijan to restore free transit of commercial, humanitarian, and private vehicles through this corridor. We’re also aware that the UN Security Council has a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, and we expect further discussions to take place there as well,’ Patel said.
Asked what is the U.S.’s position on that very issue at the UN Patel said,’ I’m not going to get ahead of the meeting. But we have consistently emphasized and reiterated the fact that direct dialogue is essential to resolving this longstanding conflict, and we think that any engagements that ultimately bring peace and stability to the people of South Caucasus would be a good thing and a positive step forward.’
The U.N. Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting for August 16 to discuss the worsening humanitarian situation in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, after Armenia urged the international community to help end Azerbaijan’s months-long blockade of the isolated territory.
Despite a Moscow-brokered ceasefire assigning Russian peacekeepers to guard the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the outside world, Azerbaijan took effective control of the highway last year. For the past two months, humanitarian aid has been blocked and the ICRC warned it is unable to take supplies of food and medicine in or out. -0-
