Artsakh president declares Nagorno-Karabakh disaster zone

ArmInfo. As a result of the blockade, today Artsakh is at the epicenter of a humanitarian  catastrophe, which manifests itself in all spheres of life - from  food to healthcare, from agriculture to education. Human deaths have  already been reported, from newborns to the elderly suffering from  chronic diseases, Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan stated at a  press conference attended by about 100 international media outlets. 

"Azerbaijan, in the conditions of international impunity, constantly  hardens its position towards the people of Artsakh with open purpose  of carrying out ethnic cleansing based on the policy of national  hatred and discrimination. During this time, the International Court  of Justice and European Court of Human Rights accepted legally and  politically binding solutions to ensure uninterrupted two-way traffic  of people, vehicles and goods through the Kashatagh (Lachin)  corridor. In addition, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary  Assembly of the Council of Europe, the legislative and executive  bodies of various states, authoritative international human rights  organizations made clear demands and calls on the Azerbaijani  authorities to end the blockade of Artsakh and refrain from using  force or threatening to use it. However, Azerbaijan not only ignores  the court decisions and the demands of the international community,  but also expands and deepens the blockade more and more using  military threats," Harutyunyan said.

The President of Artsakh stressed that Azerbaijan pursues a number of  goals, including getting rid of the people of Artsakh by carrying out  a complete ethnic cleansing and closing the page of the conflict by  force.  "To solve this problem, Baku is trying to forcibly subjugate  the people of Artsakh, destroy the Republic of Artsakh and its  resistance systems, push the people of Artsakh to emigrate, ruin its  economy, obtain additional means of pressure on Armenia, in  particular, in order to obtain an extraterritorial road between  Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan through the territory of Armenia," he  said.

The President of Artsakh added that Azerbaijan exposes the people of  the republic to psychological terror.  By establishing constant  control over entry and exit from Artsakh, he is trying to create  unbearable conditions for living in the republic, to check and cross  the "red lines" of the Armenian sides, to discredit international and  regional guarantees of security and stability.

Arayik Haryunyyan noted that in its policy, Baku blocks the movement  of people, vehicles and goods, violates infrastructures, including  electricity, gas, water supply and communications, carries out  frequent attacks and commits provocations, including against  civilians doing agricultural work. According to him, an information  blockade is also being carried out with the spread of disinformation  and fake news, blocking the access of international missions,  journalists and humanitarian fact-finding organizations.

"As a result of the blockade, there is an acute shortage of food,  since before the blockade, about 90% of the food consumed in Artsakh  was imported from Armenia. For 40 days, not a single kilogram of food  was received in Artsakh, and the lack of fuel and other necessary  materials greatly affected the limited local production and its  supply. Due to the almost complete lack of fuel and other necessary  materials and supplies, 80% of agricultural work has not been  completed, even grain harvesting is organized in a very partial  volume, even partially operating during the blockade, economic  enterprises have been stopped, public transport has been almost  completely stopped, health services and other essential services are  working with great difficulty.Various medicines in the healthcare  system have been used up, the rest have reached their limit,  endangering people's lives and health, the number of deaths and  complications among newborns has doubled, anemia among pregnant women  has reached 90%, all routine examinations and operations have been  stopped, hundreds of patients cannot travel to Armenia and abroad for  treatment, important medical equipment has failed due to power cuts  and lack of necessary maintenance," Arayik Harutyunyan stressed.

He added that due to problems with heating and food, schools and  kindergartens were completely or partially closed, due to  psychological terror and malnutrition, the susceptibility and  academic performance of children were greatly affected, hundreds of  students are unable to travel to Armenia and abroad to continue their  education.

"196 days have passed since Azerbaijan interrupted the supply of  electricity from Armenia to Artsakh, as a result of which blackouts  occur daily for at least six hours, and many economic enterprises  stopped working. Gas supply has been completely stopped for 158 days,  which has led to many social and economic consequences. In the  private sector, all factories were closed, all service enterprises,  more than 80% of private sector workers became unemployed, which is  more than 15,000 people, construction was stopped 3,700 apartments  planned for families displaced by the war of 2020. Direct losses to  the economy were about $430 million, about 50% of projected annual  GDP.

Azerbaijan deliberately creates such conditions for the life of the  people of Artsakh, which are aimed at the complete or partial  destruction of their people. International law qualifies such a  policy as genocide and obliges all states of the international  community to take measures to prevent the crime of genocide.   Azerbaijan's statements that the Artsakh issue is its internal affair  are reminiscent of the justifications of the leadership of Nazi  Germany during the Nuremberg trials, when the massacres were also  called internal affairs. The civilized international community has  not accepted such excuses and has rejected the existence of a right  to massive violations of human rights under the pretext of internal  affairs. The delay in decisive action by the international community  is bringing the point of no return closer by the day.

The Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict cannot be considered resolved until  the main political issues are resolved, that is, issues related to  the security and rights of the people of Artsakh, including the  recognition and protection of the right to self-determination. At the  same time, I consider it necessary to emphasize that the  Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict must be resolved through negotiations.  The Republic of Artsakh has always been open to negotiations with  Azerbaijan in order to achieve a balanced, fair and dignified  settlement of the conflict. We presume that the talks should take  place within the framework of an agreed international format endowed  with an appropriate mandate. This will ensure the active  participation of the international community in the negotiation  process and its legitimacy. Negotiations should be based on the  sincere desire of both parties to resolve differences in good faith.  It should not be demonstrative in order to impose the will of one  side on the other. As part of the negotiation process, the  international community must ensure that force or the threat of force  is not used. There is also a need for effective mechanisms of  international guarantees that will ensure the fulfillment of the  obligations assumed by the parties. It is imperative that the parties  refrain from using unilateral coercive measures, including political,  military and any other means of coercion. The goal of negotiations  should not be legalization or the imposition of ultimatums, but the  creation of an atmosphere of cooperation.  The transport and energy  blockade of Artsakh must be immediately and unconditionally  terminated in accordance with the decisions of international courts.  Ending the blockade and alleviating the suffering of the people will  create the necessary minimum prerequisites for the start of  negotiations and create more favorable conditions for meaningful  negotiations. The norms of international law and universal values  such as justice, dignity and equality must be the basis of the  negotiation process. Any artificial boundaries that could  predetermine the outcome of the negotiations should be eliminated. It  is important to emphasize that one of the key issues of the peace  process was and remains the issue of the status of Artsakh, which,  from the point of view of international law, remains unresolved. The  right of our people to self-determination and the need to prevent  genocide constitute the indisputable basis for securing and  recognizing self- determination based on the concept of "separation  for the sake of salvation".

Given the current difficult situation and the growing threats to the  physical existence of our people, today I declare Artsakh a disaster  zone, awaiting an urgent international response and security,  political and humanitarian support from the international community,  collectively and individually. Artsakh is now the only territory in  the world that is in complete isolation and blockade, without any  humanitarian aid and international presence. Even if there is no  urgent international support in the conditions of declaring a  disaster zone, Artsakh can be safely considered a concentration camp  with all the ensuing consequences. I sent letters to the presidents  of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, which are also permanent  members of the UN Security Council, as well as to UN agencies,  describing in detail the humanitarian situation in Artsakh and  demanding that measures be taken to adequately respond to the  situation. The time has come to take unilateral action as a last  resort to prevent mass crime. We have demands from the parties to the  tripartite declaration of November 9, and especially from Russia, to  fulfill the obligations of a security guarantor, and from Armenia to  refrain from any statements and actions to recognize Artsakh as part  of Azerbaijan, respecting the right of the people of Artsakh to  self-determination.

We demand that the UN Security Council, within its mandate and  obligations, take decisive steps to prevent Azerbaijan's policy of  genocide and ensure the implementation of the decisions of the  International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights  on the opening of the Kashatagh corridor. In this regard, I consider  it urgent to involve the United Nations, its entire system and bodies  specially authorized to act in situations of humanitarian crises. I  demand that the UN Secretary General show moral and political  responsibility and leadership in order to warn the international  community about the plight of the people of Artsakh. I demand that  Guterres immediately and without hesitation mobilize the UN system to  resolve this crisis. I am ready to personally present the  humanitarian situation in Artsakh to the UN Secretary General in an  online format. I demand that the UN Under-Secretaries-General for  Humanitarian Affairs and for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs act  urgently. Speak out about the crisis in Artsakh and demand from the  international community immediate efforts to provide a mandate for  the entry and presence of the UN in Artsakh.

I demand that the executive directors of UNICEF, the UN World Food  Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, the Director General  of the World Health Organization follow their mandate and duties,  demand their presence in Artsakh to provide immediate and permanent  assistance to the people of Artsakh.  We demand from the parties  involved to stop supporting the criminal agenda of Azerbaijan, which  only exacerbates the suffering of innocent people, and call for the  implementation of concrete steps to guarantee a favorable environment  for the stable security of the people of Artsakh and a peaceful and  just settlement of the conflict.

Today, the prevention of genocide and other mass crimes is a  commitment made by the international community. It is inadmissible  that the obligation to prevent genocide is expressed only in the  readiness to put the parties to the negotiating table. The  international community, and first of all the UN Security Council,  whose members are also the three co-chairing countries of the OSCE  Minsk Group and which is responsible for international peace and  security, including the prevention of mass crimes, has the mandate,  the necessary tools and the duty to stop the policy of genocide of  Azerbaijan. The impunity of Azerbaijan must be stopped, otherwise it  will give rise to new and cruel crimes, on the threshold of which we  are now," the President of Artsakh said.