2023-07-30 10:58:47
Armenians living in Karabakh for several months report that they are facing a food crisis.
Since June 15, Azerbaijan has stopped traffic to Khankendi/Stepanakert through Lachin border crossing. Currently, the road is open only to the International Committee of the Red Cross for medical purposes.
Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of “deliberately” creating a humanitarian crisis in Karabakh. Rejecting the allegations of “humanitarian crisis”, official Baku proposes the Aghdam-Khankendi road for humanitarian provision to Karabakh, on the basis that Karabakh is internationally recognized as its territory. The Armenian side refuses this.
What is the Aghdam-Khankendi road? How can the situation be resolved? BBC tried to clarify these and other questions in Azerbaijani.
How did the “humanitarian aid” crisis between Azerbaijan and Armenia arise?
The crisis between the official Baku and Yerevan regarding the transportation of goods from Armenia to Karabakh and vice versa actually emerged at the end of 2022.
At that time, the Azerbaijani government several times expressed its concern about the processing and export of minerals in the area where Russian peacekeepers are stationed, and demanded from the Russian Peacekeeping Contingent (RSK) to monitor the “illegal” activities carried out in the region without its supervision.
On December 3 and 7 last year, after discussions with the RSK, an agreement was reached to inspect the area, but the monitoring was “obstructed”. Taking this as a basis, Azerbaijani eco-activists have started an action on the road from Shusha to Khankendi since December 12.
On April 28, eco-activists announced that they had “temporarily” stopped the sit-in on the Shusha-Khankendi road, a few days after Azerbaijan established a checkpoint on the Hekari river at the entrance to the Lachin corridor on April 23. After that, Karabakh Armenians used Lachin border crossing point to go to Armenia.
But on June 15, after an Azerbaijani serviceman was injured at this border crossing, official Baku stopped the general movement due to taking “appropriate measures”.
The use of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which provides humanitarian aid to Karabakh, was restricted in mid-July due to accusations of smuggling. Currently, the Azerbaijani side is keeping the Lachin checkpoint open only for the transportation of patients.
Armenians in Karabakh state that during the action of eco-activists, as well as after the establishment of a border-crossing point on the Lachin road, there are problems in daily food supply and they are facing a crisis.
In Armenia, they think that the crisis in Karabakh actually arose after the end of the Second Karabakh War, when Azerbaijan repeatedly cut off gas and electricity supplies to the region. The Azerbaijani side justified the interruptions in electricity and gas supply with “weather conditions and technical problems”.
In addition, official Baku said that neither the actions of eco-activists nor the border crossing point on the Lachin road “created a humanitarian crisis” and was ready to solve “all humanitarian needs promptly” that Armenian residents might face, and proposed the Aghdam-Khankendi road.
Why does Baku propose the Aghdam-Khankendi road?
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan has stated several times in its statements that the Aghdam-Khankendi road has been made operational in order to provide humanitarian aid to the Armenians of Karabakh.
Although Armenia sees this road as an “operational solution” envisioned by Azerbaijan, it wants cargo to be transported along the Lachin corridor, which is under the control of Russian peacekeepers, and justifies this with the provisions of the tripartite statement signed between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on November 9, 2020.
The Azerbaijani side declares that it accepts the Armenians living in Karabakh as its citizens and insists on the transportation of humanitarian aid from Baku via the Aghdam-Khankendi road, citing the fact that this region is the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan.
The official Baku has also voiced claims that several military personnel and civilians have been hit by landmines in the border regions with Armenia in recent months, and that weapons and ammunition are transported from Armenia to Karabakh under the name of humanitarian aid. Therefore, Azerbaijan allowed the movement of only vehicles belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross through the Lachin corridor and offered to transport humanitarian aid through the Aghdam-Khankendi road.
Official Yerevan has announced that it does not have any military alliance in Karabakh and does not provide any military support to the separatist government of Karabakh.
Although the Azerbaijani government raised the issue of their reintegration into Azerbaijan during several meetings with the Karabakh Armenians, it could not get a positive response from them.
Proposing the Aghdam-Khankendi road to Azerbaijan is also an important moment in terms of reintegration of Karabakh Armenians in the future. This was also expressed in the briefing of Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov for the diplomatic corps in the country on July 27.
Why is Armenia against the Aghdam-Khankendi road?
Not only Armenia, some people in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic also see the implementation of humanitarian support via the Aghdam-Khankendi road as a threat.
Since July 14, the Armenians of Karabakh started sit-ins as a protest.
On July 19, the members of the “Artsakh Development and Security Front” led by Ruben Vardanyan, a Russian billionaire of Armenian descent, blocked the road from Aghdam to Khankendi with concrete slabs.
The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan declared that “illegal Armenian armed groups” tried to install long-term fortification devices in front of the positions of the Azerbaijani army in the direction of Aghdam, but the work was immediately stopped as a result of the urgent measures taken.
Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, while answering the question of the local media about the Aghdam-Khankendi road on Thursday, said that “Armenia cannot and does not have the authority to discuss the issue of other roads for cargo transportation to Karabakh”, but the Armenian official noted that Lachin around the corridor, “the illegal blockade should be removed and the provisions of the tripartite declaration of November 9 should be restored”, it was stated on the official website of the ministry.
However, Mirzoyan said that there is no alternative to the Lachin corridor and that the reopening of this road is a “principle issue” for official Yerevan.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Ararat Mirzoyan’s words “aggressive rhetoric” in its statement on the Armenian side’s statement on Friday, the ministry’s website said.
The organization’s statement stated that “the rights of the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region can never prevail over the rights of the Azerbaijani population of the region” and official Baku “applies and will only apply an equal approach” to the various ethnic peoples living in its territory.
Richard Giragosyan, director of the Yerevan-based Regional Research Center, told BBC Azerbaijan that as long as Azerbaijan “will interfere with the movement in the Lachin corridor contrary to the 2020 ceasefire agreement, there will be less hope of accepting the route through Aghdam.”
BBC Azerbaijani-speaking political analyst Elkhan Sahinoglu believes that the opposition of Armenia and the separatist leadership in Karabakh to the Aghdam-Khankendi road is related to the fear of the de facto loss of the importance of the Lachin corridor.
In addition, he believes that the officials of the unrecognized DKR think that if they agree to the arrival of humanitarian aid from Azerbaijan via the Aghdam-Khankendi road, this will mean the recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.
The concern of the official Yerevan stems from the possibility of the gradual disappearance of free relations between the separatist DKR and Armenia after the Aghdam-Khankendi road becomes operational, says a political analyst.
According to Elkhan Sahinoglu, the Karabakh Armenians protesting the Aghdam-Khankendi road indirectly do not agree with the reintegration proposal made by Azerbaijan.
However, Karabakh Armenians do not hide this fact and often state that they do not want to be integrated into Azerbaijan.
How does Azerbaijan want to carry out transportation on the Aghdam-Khankendi road?
At the moment, Baku’s priority direction is to expel Russian peacekeepers from its territory within the next two years and to restore legitimacy in the parts of Karabakh controlled by the separatists.
To achieve this, Baku is trying to reduce the importance of the Lachin road and start the process of reintegration of Karabakh Armenians.
The opening of the Aghdam-Khankendi road can help Azerbaijan in this matter. At the initial stage, official Baku is trying to transport humanitarian goods from Baku to Karabakh through the mediation of international organizations.
However, everyone understands that the humanitarian aid provided to Karabakh, either from Armenia or Azerbaijan, cannot last forever, said Elkhan Sahinoglu.
So what will happen?
According to Richard Giragosyan, although the “encirclement policy” of the Azerbaijani side towards Karabakh has been observed in recent weeks, there are “reliable expectations” that the situation will gradually soften.
As a basis for this, the Armenian political analyst points to the “significant intervention in the issue” by Western countries in recent days, as well as the positive aspects of the last meeting of the foreign ministers of both countries in Moscow, and puts forward the possibility that there will be “de-escalation tendencies” between Baku and Yerevan in the coming days.
However, the analyst says that the tension in the political arena is likely to decrease soon, but he believes that it will take more time to reduce the existing tension among the common people.
“The lack of trust between Baku and Yerevan is one of the factors triggering the prolongation of this process,” added Richard Giragosyan.
According to Elkhan Sahinoglu, the official Baku is gradually providing humanitarian aid, [Qarabağdakı ermənilərlə] intends to replace it with the restoration of trade relations, issuance of identity cards, free movement and use of the national currency in Karabakh.
Azerbaijanis living in Karabakh told the BBC that in fact, even during the Soviet Union, Karabakh Armenians used to come to Aghdam market via the Khankendi-Aghdam road to buy daily necessities, including food.
It seems that Azerbaijan intends to restore that system again.
This will also allow the official Baku to gradually turn the Lachin corridor into an insignificant route.
Why is Azerbaijan trying to reduce the importance of Lachin Corridor?
Azerbaijan considers the existing relations between the separatist DKR and Armenia through the Lachin Corridor as a threat to its internationally recognized territorial integrity and sovereignty.
At the same time, official Baku is trying to establish trade or humanitarian relations with Armenia without the participation of a third party, that is, the separatist DKR.
Elkhan Sahinoglu believes that official Baku, citing the absence of any trade agreement with Armenia, is “justifiably” not interested in transporting goods from Armenia to its territory, that is, to Karabakh.
According to them, currently official Baku plans to repair the roads in Gubadli direction, and in the future to establish bilateral trade relations with Armenia by using alternative roads instead of Lachin direction.
Bbc Azeri
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