Tuesday, February 7 2023 17:30

ArmInfo. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan presented to his German counterpart the existential challenges that Armenia and the people of  Nagorno-Karabakh are facing today.

As Mirzolyan said at a press conference in Berlin on February 7, as  of  today the 120,000th population of Nagorno-Karabakh is in a total  blockade, cut off from the whole world.

"And this has been going on for two months already. Can you imagine,  people have been deprived of their fundamental right to freedom of  movement for two months already. Artsakh is facing a humanitarian  catastrophe in front of the whole world. Practical daily cuts of gas  and electricity in cold winter conditions, families stranded in  different sides of the blockade, children deprived of the right to  education and malnourished, people deprived of the opportunity to  receive proper medical care. All this is a consequence of the fact  that Azerbaijan, having replaced the global environmental agenda,  grossly violating the obligations taken under the tripartite  statement of November 9, 2020, blocked the Lachin corridor - the only  road that provides communication between Artsakh and the outside  world," Mirzoyan recalled.

According to him, the closure of the Lachin corridor, as well as  other early aggressive actions of Azerbaijan, such as the invasion of  Azerbaijani troops into the sovereign territory of Armenia and the  creation of unbearable conditions for people in Artsakh, have one  goal - to force the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh to leave  their homes, and thereby deprive them of the opportunity and right to  live in their homeland.

"This can only be described as a policy of ethnic cleansing. This is  Azerbaijan's response to the call of the international community to  resolve the issues of the rights and security of the Armenian people  of Nagorno- Karabakh," Mirzoyan said.

At the same time, he stressed that the consequences of the  Azerbaijani large-scale aggression against the verified territory of  Armenia in May and November 2021, as well as in September 2022, have  not been eliminated to this day. The RA Foreign Minister stressed  that, having violated the norms of international humanitarian law and  obligations under the November 9 statement, Azerbaijan continues to  hold Armenian prisoners of war and civilians in captivity, and the  fate of many people who disappeared as a result of the violence  remains unknown.

"The destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage in the territories  of Nagorno-Karabakh that came under Azerbaijani control continues,"  Mirzoyan said, adding that despite the above difficulties, advancing  the peace agenda remains the principle and strategy of Armenia.

He noted that Armenia attaches great importance to the clear position  of Germany in the efforts to establish peace and stability in the  region.