Armenia deliberately disrupts opening of Lachin road and provokes new conflict - Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry

Baku/14.08.23/Turan: Efforts aimed at establishing lasting peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia have fallen victim to Armenia's deliberate policy of tension and revanchism and face serious challenges. This reported by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on 14 August.

"Armenia is once again trying to turn the UN Security Council into an instrument of political, military and information-oriented manipulation campaign.   At the same time, Armenia is a country that for almost 30 years has been ignoring the four UN Security Council resolutions adopted in 1993 and a number of statements by the President of the Security Council demanding the full, immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the occupation forces from the territory of Azerbaijan.

Armenia's appeal to the UN Security Council over baseless allegations of "deteriorating humanitarian situation" and "continuing blockade" in the region comes at a time when Armenia is once again deliberately and purposefully obstructing efforts to find a balanced, international legal and acceptable solution through international partners.

Armenia's regular abuse of the Lachin road over the past three years has forced Azerbaijan to take legal steps to establish a border crossing point to ensure security and order on its border. Although Armenia attempted to portray these efforts as a "blockade" and appealed to the UN International Court of Justice for a decision to remove the checkpoint, the court unanimously rejected this request in its 6 July ruling.

Armenia has not accepted the fact that it is deprived of the opportunity to provide needs of its armed forces, which have not been fully withdrawn from Azerbaijani territory.

For this reason, Armenia has launched a propaganda campaign worldwide and has created obstacles to the normal operation of the crossing point as well as to the use of the Aghdam-Khankendi road for delivery of goods to the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

Recently, after a series of intensive consultations and efforts of "shuttle diplomacy", an agreement was finally reached on delivery of humanitarian supplies to the Karabakh region by various routes, as well as on organisation of a meeting between the special representatives of Azerbaijan and representatives of local Armenian residents.

The intention was to create conditions for delivery of humanitarian supplies via the Red Cross to the civilian population of Karabakh. For this purpose, the concrete and other physical barriers placed by Armenia on the Aghdam-Khankendi road were to be removed. After 24 hours, the Red Cross was to resume use of the Lachin road. All parties, including the Russian peacekeeping contingent and the ICRC, were ready to put this agreement into practice.

On the second issue, an agreement was reached between the special representative of Azerbaijan and local representatives of Armenia to meet in Yevlakh.  However, on 5 August 2023, Armenia violated both agreements reached by putting forward politically motivated, illegal conditions and various pretexts.

In other words, what Armenia demanded from the international community and from the UN Security Council could have been achieved a few days ago with the support of partners, including members of the UN Security Council. But this did not happen only because of Armenia's refusal.

If Armenia and its self-proclaimed structure had fulfilled the agreement, the issue would have been resolved by the beginning of August, ensuring the delivery of humanitarian supplies to the residents of the Karabakh region, and facilitating the passage of people, goods and vehicles," the statement said.

Besides, the Armenian armed forces stationed in Karabakh have recently intensified military engineering work. Of particular concern is the use of electronic warfare equipment deployed on the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. In recent weeks, in addition to civilian aircraft of Azerbaijan Airlines, foreign aircraft have also been subjected to electronic interference, which poses a serious threat to their security.

In parallel with the illegal build-up of military construction works and activities, in recent days there has been a concentration of military equipment and personnel along the state border. These actions show that Armenia has not renounced its territorial claims to Azerbaijan, and its oral statements on the recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan are contrary to reality, the statement says.

"At this critical stage, a clear understanding of the existing risks and an adequate response of the international community to Armenia's provocations are more important than ever to overcome the difficulties faced by the process of normalization of interstate relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the reintegration of local residents of Armenian origin into the political, legal and socio-economic framework of Azerbaijan.

It is important to ensure that the historic opportunity for sustainable peace in the region is not missed," the statement of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stresses. -02D-