Thursday, December 15 2022 12:36

ArmInfo.At a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Armenia's Premier Nikol Pashinyan spoke of the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.  

Below is Mr Pashinyan's speech: 

"In recent days, the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh  becomes extremely complicated.  Azerbaijan first blocked the Lachin  Corridor, then closed the pipeline supplying Nagorno Karabakh with  natural gas. As a result of these provocative actions, the residents  of Nagorno-Karabakh are deprived of the right to free movement, are  facing the difficulties of heating their apartments in the winter  weather, thousands of people, including children, are stuck on the  roads in the cold winter conditions, and many families are  involuntarily divided, finding themselves on different sides of the  blockade. Citizens with serious health problems are deprived of  medicines and health services, supply of food and other essential  goods have been disrupted. 120,000 people in blockade are in fact, in  the situation of hostage. Gas-heated schools and kindergartens are  forced to stop working, as a result of which around 22,000 children  are deprived of their right to education.

"The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be called anything other  than a humanitarian crisis. Moreover, this crisis arose as a result  of Azerbaijan's failure to fulfill its international obligations. As  it has already been said many times, the closure of the Lachin  Corridor is a direct and gross violation of the trilateral  declaration of November 9, 2020 by Azerbaijan, simply because  according to point 6, the Lachin Corridor is under the control of the  peacekeeping troops of the Russian Federation in Nagorno-Karabakh and  the Republic of Azerbaijan guarantees the safety of the movement of  citizens, vehicles and cargo through the Lachin Corridor. This is a  direct quote from the November 9 trilateral declaration. And that  declaration is a document under which the president of Azerbaijan has  also signed.

"As I have had occasions to mention, Azerbaijan's violations of the  trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020 are of a chronic nature.  And those violations are as follows: in the first point of the  declaration, it is recorded about the cessation of fire and all  military operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.  Contrary  to this, illegal military operations have been undertaken by  Azerbaijan since December 13, 2020, i.e. one month after the signing  of the trilateral declaration, namely in the form of occupation of  Khtsaberd and Hin Tagher villages of Nagorno Karabakh. On March 24,  2022, units of the Azerbaijani armed forces invaded the zone of  responsibility of the peacekeeping forces of the Russian Federation  in Nagorno- Karabakh, in the area reaching the village at Karaglukh  hill, and continue to remain there to this day.  Similar military  operations took place before and after that, violations of the  cease-fire regime by the armed forces of Azerbaijan in  Nagorno-Karabakh continue to be regular.

"The occupation of the territories of the Republic of Armenia by  Azerbaijan as a result of the provocations of May 11, 2021, November  14, 2021 and September 13, 2022 is also a gross violation of the  first point of the trilateral declaration.

"Daily violations of the ceasefire regime along the  Armenia-Azerbaijan border are also a gross violation of the  provisions of the first point of the trilateral declaration by  Azerbaijan.

"The above-mentioned actions also violate the third point of the  trilateral declaration, according to which a line of contact is being  formed in Nagorno-Karabakh under the responsibility of the  peacekeeping troops of the Russian Federation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Azerbaijan's continuous claim that Nagorno Karabakh does not exist  is also a gross violation of the trilateral declaration, something  that I have had many occasions to speak about.

"I have already mentioned the violations of point 6 of the trilateral  declaration above, in connection with the operation of the Lachin  Corridor.

"Azerbaijan also grossly and continuously violates paragraph 7 of the  declaration, according to which internally displaced persons and  refugees return to the Nagorno-Karabakh territory and adjacent  territories under the supervision of the staff of the United Nations  High Commissioner for Refugees. Until now, the representatives of the  UN have not been able to enter Nagorno Karabakh due to the obstacles  created by Azerbaijan. Until now, the issues of forcibly displaced  citizens from the Hadrut region of Nagorno- Karabakh have not been  resolved.

"I want to pay attention to the wording of the above-mentioned  article of the trilateral declaration. I quote from the article.  "Refugees return to the territory of Nagorno Karabakh". This  formulation means that there is Nagorno-Karabakh and Nagorno-Karabakh  has a territory, and saying that Nagorno-Karabakh does not exist and  not accepting the territorial existence of such an entity,  Azerbaijan, in fact, declares that the refugees have no place to  return, which is a gross violation not only of the trilateral  declaration, but also of the humanitarian law.

"Azerbaijan also grossly violates paragraph 8 of the trilateral  declaration, which states that there should be an exchange of  prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons. Until now,  Azerbaijan is holding and refusing to return at least 33 prisoners,  hostages and other detained persons to Armenia, which is also a gross  violation not only of the trilateral declaration, but also of  humanitarian law.

"Azerbaijan also continuously and grossly violates point 9 of the  trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, claiming that the  Republic of Armenia should provide a corridor. I have said many times  that the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020 does not provide  for any corridor through the territory of the Republic of Armenia.  Nor does any document signed by Armenia provide for such a thing.  Naturally, all the claims that Armenia gave such a verbal promise to  anyone are absurd and even ignorant.

"As before, the Republic of Armenia is ready to implement the  provisions of point 9 of the trilateral declaration, which, let me  remind you, is about unblocking the economic and transport  communications of the region. The trilateral declaration does not  provide for any restrictions on the sovereignty of the Republic of  Armenia in this process, and therefore, Armenia is ready at any time  for the reopening of roads, the construction of new roads, as well as  their operation, as provided by the legislation of the Republic of  Armenia.

"Our main collective work should be making Azerbaijan's chronic  violations of its own commitments a subject for international  assessment. Our diplomatic service, the foreign relations units of  all departments, parliamentary diplomacy, the ruling force, the  opposition, non-governmental organizations, representatives of the  diaspora, individuals and legal entities with links abroad, and  social media users must contribute to this cause to demonstrate that  Azerbaijan's periodic violations of the 2020 trilateral declaration  primarily aim to subject Nagorno Karabakh to genocide or forced  expatriation.

"Azerbaijan continuously implements the policy of "Nagorno-Karabakh  without Armenians" and we must do everything to ensure that this  policy receives a proper international assessment.

"I want to thank all those countries and international organizations  that have already responded and given an assessment to Azerbaijan's  policy of closing the Lachin Corridor and causing a humanitarian  disaster in Nagorno-Karabakh. I must note that the silence of a  number of friendly countries in this regard is at least strange.

"I fully support the statement adopted yesterday by the National  Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, in which it is stated that in  the current situation it is extremely necessary to launch or  re-launch the international mechanisms for ensuring the rights and  security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. The National Assembly  also called on the UN Security Council, OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair and  member countries to send a fact-finding mission to Nagorno Karabakh  to monitor the humanitarian situation.

"I instruct our diplomatic service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,  to effectively deliver this message of the highest legislative body  of the Republic of Armenia to the addressees.

"I should also say that I am in constant contact with the President  of Nagorno Karabakh for assessing the developments and discussing  possible solutions. That's all for now, thank you for your  attention."