NKR MFA: Azerbaijan`s attempts to interfere in internal political  life in Artsakh are categorically unacceptable for official  Stepanakert

ArmInfo. During the Munich Security Conference, held on 18 February 2023, the President of Azerbaijan made a number of statements aimed at disguising the  criminal policy of Azerbaijan towards the people of Artsakh, and  distorting the essence of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict by  violating causal relationships. This is stated in the statement of  the NKR MFA.

As the press service of the NKR MFA reports, the statement reads as  follows: "In particular, the President of Azerbaijan once again tried  to refute the obvious fact of the blockade of Artsakh, which has been  recognized by the international community, with the exception of  Azerbaijan itself. To prove their claims, the Azerbaijani president  cited data on the passage for the entire period of the blockade of  2,500 vehicles of the Russian Peacekeeping Contingent and the  International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the evacuation  of 100 patients to hospitals in Armenia through the ICRC. However,  these data prove exactly the opposite of what Baku claims. During the  73 days of the blockade, fewer cars passed through the Lachin  Corridor than during three usual days in the pre- blockade period.  All vehicles passing through the Lachin Corridor belonged to either  the Russian Peacekeeping Contingent or the ICRC. Other vehicles  belonging to citizens of the Republic of Artsakh, state structures or  carrying out commercial transportation are not able to pass through  the Lachin Corridor. Seriously ill patients can only be evacuated to  Yerevan through the ICRC, which once again indicates the lack of free  passage through the Lachin Corridor. Moreover, at the beginning of  the blockade, at least one seriously ill patient died due to the  impossibility of his urgent transportation to Yerevan for further  treatment. The fact that many citizens of the Republic cannot return  to Artsakh, and hundreds of separated families are deprived of the  opportunity to reunite, is another confirmation of the blockade  imposed by Azerbaijan.

It should also be noted that during a conversation with Azerbaijani  journalists following a trilateral meeting with Armenian Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken,  the Azerbaijani president stated about Baku's proposal to set up a  checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor. It becomes obvious from his words  that Baku had been hatching these plans long before the blockade was  imposed. All these facts clearly prove that in addition to creating  unbearable living conditions for the people of Artsakh, the blockade  is also aimed at revising the provisions of the Trilateral Statement  of 9 November 2020. Thus, Azerbaijan is clearly seeking to legitimize  its intention to revise the provisions of the Trilateral Statement.  These attempts must be resolutely rejected by all actors involved in  the normalization of relations in the region. Full functioning of the  Lachin Corridor should be restored in accordance with the Trilateral  Statement of 9 November 2020, and without any preconditions.

Azerbaijan's attempts to interfere in the internal political life of  Artsakh, as well as its vision of a dialogue between Stepanakert and  Baku, are also absolutely unacceptable for the official Stepanakert.  In this regard, we reiterate that a comprehensive settlement of the  Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict must be achieved through negotiations  that will ensure equal footing for the parties and will not contain  conditions that prejudge the outcome of the negotiations. In this  context, we consider it necessary to restore the international  mediation format as an additional guarantee of the irreversibility of  the peace process. We once again emphasize that the results of the  illegal use or threat of force by Azerbaijan cannot serve as a  starting point on the path to peace, stability and security," the  Foreign Ministry of Artsakh concludes.