Saturday, March 11 2023 15:11

ArmInfo."The Lachin corridor linking Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist enclave in  neighbouring Azerbaijan with a mainly Armenian population, will have been blocked for three months on 12 March. Reporters Without Borders  (RSF) calls on the Azerbaijani authorities and Russian peacekeepers to allow reporters freedom of movement so that they can cover this  blockade and its serious humanitarian impact." The statement of  RSF reads,  published on its official website.

The statement notes that: "Nagorno-Karabakh is turning into a news  and information black hole because purported Azerbaijani  environmental activists have been blocking all traffic along the  Lachin corridor, the only road linking Armenia to the enclave, for  the past three months, thereby causing a major humanitarian crisis.  Only Azerbaijani journalists from state or pro-government media can  cover the demonstrations on the corridor. The few independent local  media are not allowed through the checkpoints.

The few journalists who have been escorted to the point where the  road is blocked have not been able to report freely. When David Lopez  Frias, a reporter for the Spanish newspaper El Periodico de Espana,  visited Azerbaijan in late February, he spent an evening on the  Lachin road accompanied by "guides" from Azerbaijan's state-owned  Global Media Group, who let him interview the protesting  "environmentalists" without any problem, but not any Russian  peacekeepers. It was not possible either to meet with any members of  the Armenian population, on the other side of the Russian  checkpoints.

Futhermore, the Azerbaijani state news agency Azertac published an  interview with Lopez in several languages in which he was  deliberately misquoted. It quoted him as saying: "Vehicles pass here  without any problems. You just see people demonstrating to protect  nature." When RSF contacted Lopez, he said: "I said the exact  opposite. I clearly saw a blocked road."

"This barefaced lie by a government-controlled media outlet is  further evidence of a desire on the part of the Azerbaijani  authorities to manipulate national and international public opinion.  They not only violate the 2020 ceasefire agreement by supporting  these 'eco-activists' but they also prevent any accurate coverage of  the Lachin corridor blockade and its terrible humanitarian  repercussions. RSF reminds the Azerbaijani government and Russian  peacekeepers of their international undertakings and urges them to  restore free access to the region for journalists.  On the Armenian  side, independent media have no access to the corridor or the  enclave, and rely on photos and video provided the Azerbaijani state  media and the local TV channel in Nagorno-Karabakh, and on what  residents say, which is often hard to verify. Few media outlets have  correspondents in the enclave. The news site Civilnet has a bureau  with four journalists in Stepanakert, the enclave's capital, but no  other independent media outlet does.

Conversely, Azerbaijani journalists wishing to travel to the  Nakhchivan autonomous republic, located southwest of Armenian  territory, are forced to bypass Armenia via Iran or to fly there. No  agreement has been reached between the two sides since the 2020  ceasefire to open a corridor directly linking this region to  Azerbaijan.

This is by no means the first time reporters have had difficulty  moving about in the enclave, which was the subject of fierce fighting  in September 2020 and where deadly skirmishes are still common.

The purported purpose of the blocking of the Lachin corridor by  Azerbaijani "eco-activists" since 12 December is to prevent work at a  gold mine. But many investigations point to the Azerbaijani  government's total involvement in the blockade. Several international  actors have blamed President Ilham Aliyev's government and the  International Court of Justice ordered Azerbaijan to remove the  blockade. Only Red Cross humanitarian convoys are currently allowed  through the corridor," they concluded.