The European Union is concerned about the humanitarian situation in the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh and calls on the Azerbaijani government to ensure freedom of movement along the Lachin corridor as soon as possible, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2023) The European Union is concerned about the humanitarian situation in the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh and calls on the Azerbaijani government to ensure freedom of movement along the Lachin corridor as soon as possible, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.
"The European Union is deeply concerned about the serious humanitarian situation affecting the local population in the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. The movement through the Lachin corridor remains obstructed for more than seven months, despite Orders by the International Court of Justice to reopen it ... It is incumbent on the Azerbaijani authorities to guarantee safety and freedom of movement along the Lachin corridor imminently and not to permit the crisis to escalate further," Borrell said in a statement.
The region also faces a shortage of medicines and essential goods, Borrell noted, adding that humanitarian access to the affected population must not be politicized by any parties.
"We took note of the expressed readiness of the Azerbaijani authorities to also supply goods via the city of Aghdam. This should not be seen as an alternative to the reopening of the Lachin corridor," Borrell stated.
The decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh flared up in September 2020, marking the worst escalation since the 1990s. Hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered trilateral ceasefire declaration signed in November 2020. The two former Soviet states agreed to the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the region. Since then, there have been occasional clashes along the border.
In 2022, Yerevan and Baku, mediated by Russia, the United States and the European Union, began discussing a future peace treaty. In May 2023, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Yerevan was ready to recognize Azerbaijan's 86,600 square kilometers (33,430 square miles) territorial integrity that also includes Nagorno-Karabakh. If Armenia does not change its position on the issue, Baku and Yerevan may sign a peace treaty in the near future, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.
On July 11, Azerbaijan's State Border Service said that the traffic through the Lachin checkpoint had been suspended due to an investigation into alleged smuggling by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) into the disputed region. The organization said it regretted that four hired drivers, who were not ICRC staff members, had tried to transport some commercial goods in their own vehicles, which were temporarily displaying the ICRC emblem. The Armenian Foreign Ministry, in turn, called on the international community to make additional efforts to lift the ongoing blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Lachin corridor is the only land route linking Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
