Thursday, March 16 2023 12:02

ArmInfo.Azerbaijan's politico-military leadership is preparing ethnic cleansing and genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia's Premier Nikol Pashinyan stated at a Cabinet meeting on March 16. 

In defiance of the ICJ ruling, Azerbaijan continues blocking the  Lachin corridor. 

"We also see Baku's attempts to exacerbate the military situation on  the line of contact with Nagorno- Karabakh. The latest glaring  manifestation was the murder of three Karabakh policemen by an  Azerbaijan sabotage group on March 5," the premier said.  

Mr Pashinyan stressed that the incident occurred in the zone of  responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers. 

"It is important that in its statement of March 6 Russia's Ministry  of Defense recorded the Azerbaijani side provoked the incident," the  premier said. 

Mr Pashinyan emphasized the fact that the incident took place on the  Lachin corridor, which is, according to Point 6 of the Trilateral  Statement is "not only the presently blocked road, but is also a  5-km-wide security zone." 

"Therefore, the murder of three policemen by Azerbaijani forces is a  triple violation of the Trilateral Statement, with not only the  ceasefire violated, but also the line of contact and the 5-km-wide  security zone illegally crossed," Mr Pashinyan said.  

Azerbaijan's state propaganda has for a long period been laying the  groundwork for a large-scale attack against Nagorno-Karabakh. Tension  is obvious on the ground as well. 

"Our assessment remains the same: Azerbaijan's politico-military  leadership is preparing ethnic cleansing and genocide in  Nagorno-Karabakh. And the ICJ actually recorded it in its ruling  reading that the blockade of the Lachin corridor could have  devastating humanitarian consequences for the Nagorno-Karabakh  people," Mr Pashinyan said.  

He called for immediate employment of international mechanisms to  prevent genocide. 

"I mean the U.N. mechanisms and I have issued relevant instructions  to our foreign office," he said. 

Work continues to ensure the dispatch an international fact-finding  mission to the Lachin corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh. 

He rejected Baku's ungrounded claims that Armenian forces are  deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia is supplying weapons there. 

"Azerbaijan is seeking a pretext for a new escalation in the region.  Therefore, dispatching an international fact-finding mission to the  Lachin corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh is necessary in this respect as  well," Mr Pashinyan said. 

The issue was discussed in during the Macron-Michel-Pashinyan-Aliyev  meeting in Prague, December 6.  2020. the Azerbaijani leader claimed  Armenia's forces are present in Nagorno-Karabakh, while Armenia's  premier was rejecting his claim. Mr Pashinyan proposed sending an  international fact-finding mission to the Lachin corridor and  Nagorno-Karabakh, but Aliyev rejected the proposal. 

Nagorno-Karabakh must have a defense army as long as there is a  threat of ethnic cleansing and Armenian genocide there. But this is  not the only mechanism, another one being the Russian peacekeepers.   The RF Council of Federation approved the deployment of Russian  peacekeeping forces thereby admitting the probability of annihilation  of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians by Azerbaijan, Armenia's premier  said.