2023-08-08 15:30:04
Armenian trucks carrying humanitarian aid for the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, blocked not far from an Azerbaijani checkpoint, installed at the entrance to the Lachin corridor, Nagorno-Karabakh’s only land link with the Armenia, July 30, 2023. KAREN MINASYAN / AFP
A career diplomat, ambassador to France from 2010 to 2017, Elchin Amirbayov, 51, is the representative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev for special missions. In charge of the negotiations concerning the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, populated mainly by Armenians, but located on the territory of Azerbaijan, he evokes the tense situation for access to it.
The Lachin corridor, the only link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, has been cut off for seven months by dams installed by Azerbaijan. Nothing has happened since June 15, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross [CICR]. Armenian civilians in Karabakh live in increasingly precarious conditions. What can justify treating 120,000 people like this, most of whom are civilians?
Let’s start with the context. The Lachin route is enshrined in the Trilateral Declaration [accord de cessez-le-feu], signed on November 10, 2020 by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, to be used for humanitarian purposes, as an important link between Armenia and the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, for the past two and a half years, we have seen the misuse of this route by Armenia, which illegally brings its citizens into the territory of Azerbaijan for the purpose of rotation of the illegal Armenian armed forces. As well as to transport weapons to Karabakh and minerals to Armenia. The figure of 120,000 people is greatly exaggerated. According to our estimates, there are only 50,000 Armenians today in Karabakh, including 10,000 armed Armenians.
Do you consider these soldiers as Azerbaijani citizens?
No, the majority of these armed people belong to the armed forces of Armenia, deployed in violation of the trilateral declaration, which provided for their departure from Karabakh with the arrival of the Russian contingent. This situation has persisted for nearly three years. Azerbaijan is showing strategic patience, but this presence poses a real threat to our national security, which we will not tolerate indefinitely. This is why Azerbaijan was obliged to create, on April 23, a checkpoint in Lachin. It is a decision in accordance with international law, because it is a border between the two States. But, on June 15, there was an Armenian provocation. An Azerbaijani border guard was seriously injured by gunfire from Armenian territory, and free movement was suspended for nine days to conduct the investigation, then the road was reopened, mainly for medical evacuations. We fully understand the need to respond quickly to all the humanitarian needs of the Armenian residents.
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