Azerbaijan continued blocking the entry of a convoy of 19 trucks carrying much-needed humanitarian aid from Armenia as coordinators await a response from Russian peacekeeping forces who were notified about the assistance mission on Wednesday.
The trucks reached the Kornidzor village in Armenia’s Syunik Province late Wednesday, where they were passed through the Armenian checkpoint, accompanied by the head of the European Union mission in Armenia, Markus Ritter. For almost one day, the convoy has been stuck at the Kornidzor checkpoint.
Vardan Sargsyan, who is leading the humanitarian mission as part of the Armenian government’s response to the Artsakh crisis on Thursday told reporters that there has been no movement since the convoy reached Kornidzor the day before.
He said they have appealed to both the Russian peacekeepers and Azerbaijani authorities to allow the passage of the goods into Artsakh.
“This process requires patience and a certain sequence of steps. As of this moment we haven’t received any response, we are waiting for a response,” said Sargsyan.
Azerbaijan was quick to call the humanitarian aid delivery a “provocation,” blaming Armenia for what it called staging this effort in order to destabilize the situation. Baku also publicly said that the road from Aghdam to Stepanakert — bypassing Armenia — must be used for all assistance delivery, and accused Armenia of holding the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh “hostage.”
The European Union, through its chief foreign affairs chief, Josef Borrell, said that Aghdam should not be seen as an alternative to reopening of the Lachin Corridor, which Azerbaijan has been blockading since December 12 and urged the authorities to comply with the International Court of Justice order to ensure “unimpeded movement” along the road.
Prime Minsiter Nikol Pashinyan said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday that if Azerbaijan blocks the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Artsakh them it would corroborate “Armenia’s fears that Baku is planning to commit genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“We’ve asked the Russian peacekeepers deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh to accept the cargo and transport it to Nagorno-Karabakh, where there’s an ongoing humanitarian crisis resulting from the nearly eight-month blockade of the Lachin Corridor. However, Azerbaijan is obstructing the access of the humanitarian goods into Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh. This conduct is incomprehensible and unacceptable,” Pashinyan said.
HE also said that the diplomatic corps in Armenia was invited to inspect the cargo before the convey left Yerevan, denying claims by Azerbaijan that Yerevan was transporting arms to Artsakh.
“So why doesn’t Azerbaijan allow the goods to enter Nagorno Karabakh?” asked Pashinyan. “Perhaps because Azerbaijan’s true intention is to starve the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, subject them to genocide.”
“Regardless of our assessment, we are waiting for the response of the Russian peacekeeping contingent and official Baku’s positive reaction, because the blocking of the humanitarian cargo would only confirm fears that Baku intends to commit genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Pashinyan said.
Pashinyan said that the trucks are carrying “100 tons of flour, 80 tons of pasta, 60 tons of sugar, 40 tons of vegetable oil, 40 tons of powdered milk, 20 tons of salt, 12 tons of baby food and nine tons of medication.”
