STEPANAKERT, Azerbaijan, July 14 — Thousands rallied today in Azerbaijan's restive Nagorno-Karabakh region, demanding Baku reopen the enclave's sole land link with Armenia.
Karabakh has been at the centre of a decades-long territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which have fought two wars over the mountainous territory, mainly populated by Armenians.
On Tuesday, Azerbaijan said it was temporarily shutting the Lachin Corridor, the only road linking the region to Armenia, accusing the Armenian branch of the Red Cross of smuggling.
The closure sparked concerns over a humanitarian crisis in the restive enclave, which is experiencing food shortages and where locals lack access to health services, according to separatist authorities.
Chanting "No to the blockade!" and "Open the road of life!" some 6,000 people gathered on Friday at the central square of Karabakh's main city, Stepanakert.
"Russian peacekeepers must guarantee rights and physical survival of the people of Artsakh," Karabakh's rights ombudsman, Ghegham Stepanyan, told the crowd, using the Armenian name for the region.
One of the demonstrators, priest Nerses Asrayan, said: "We are living a fateful moment: Azerbaijanis want to annihilate the people of Artsakh, to capture out homeland."
AFP this week spoke to locals in Stepanakert, who reported food shortages and critical problems with access to medical services.
'Irreversible consequences'
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said Karabakh residents could pass "through the border checkpoint for medical purposes with the support of the ICRC."
During a meeting with the head of the Red Cross delegation to Azerbaijan, Dragana Kojic, Bayramov said Azerbaijan had offered to provide assistance "regarding supply needs of the Armenian residents" of the region, the foreign ministry in Baku said in a statement.
Azerbaijan has said the decision to temporarily shut the Lachin Corridor was made after the Red Cross failed to "prevent illegal actions" such as smuggling mobile phones from Armenia to Karabakh, using the organisation's medical vehicles.
The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has denied the claims, saying "no unauthorised material has been found in any vehicle belonging to ICRC."
It said "four hired drivers tried to transport some commercial goods in their own vehicles which were temporarily displaying the ICRC emblem."
On Thursday, an official in the separatist government called on Russia to ensure free movement on the Lachin Corridor.
"The situation is terrible, in a few days we will have irreversible consequences," said Gurgen Nersisyan, a state minister in the separatist government.
'Illegal blockade'
Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan earlier announced fresh EU-mediated peace talks with Baku, as Western engagement grows in region where traditional power broker Russia — distracted by its war in Ukraine — appears to be losing influence.
Pashinyan also said the "illegal blockade" of the Lachin Corridor contradicts a ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The UN's top judicial body ordered Azerbaijan in February to ensure free movement along the road.
In autumn 2020, Russia sponsored a ceasefire agreement that ended six weeks of fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces for control of Karabakh.
The deal saw Armenia cede swathes of territories it had controlled for decades, while Russia deployed peacekeepers which are manning the five-kilometre-wide Lachin Corridor to ensure free passage between Armenia and Karabakh.
Armenia, which has relied on Russia for military and economic support since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, has accused Moscow of failing to fulfil its peacekeeping role in Karabakh.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatists in Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan. The ensuing conflict claimed some 30,000 lives. — AFP
