“Why should Azerbaijan heed these calls?” Opinion from Baku
Baku reacts to discussion of Karabakh
The discussion of the situation in Karabakh in the UN Security Council and the calls of members of the organization to fulfill the requirements of the tripartite statement provoked a reaction in Baku. “Most members of the UN Security Council call for the continuation of negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan in order to normalize relations,” the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said. In any case, Azerbaijan has already taken control of a part of the Lachin corridor, and from now on no illegal cargo can pass along this road, experts say.
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The United Nations Security Council discussed the situation in Karabakh.
In the Lachin corridor linking Khankendi (Stepanakert) with Armenia, a protest by Azerbaijani activists has been going on for ten days. On both sides of the place of the action the Russian peacekeeping contingent (RCC) has blocked the road. Only supplies of the Russian contingent itself may pass. During these ten days, the peacekeepers have only once let Red Cross cars and an ambulance pass to Khankendi and back.
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry: “They are calling for the continuation of negotiations”
The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan on the calls of members of the UN Security Council says that “despite the attempts of Armenia to use this structure for the purpose of manipulation against Azerbaijan, discussions in the UN Security Council have become another platform for expressing Azerbaijan’s well-founded fears, in particular the intentional, permanent and irreparable violations by Armenia of its obligations assumed in the framework of the tripartite statement of November 10, 2020, as well as to inform the world community about this.”
The Foreign Ministry described in detail the speech of Azerbaijan’s representative to the UN, Yashar Aliyev. According to the latter, “Armenia’s accusations about the alleged closure of the Lachin road by Azerbaijan, the application of a “blockade” and the occurrence of a “humanitarian catastrophe” against Armenian residents are absolutely unfounded and do not correspond to reality.”
The statement noted that “neither the Azerbaijani government nor the protesters have blocked the Lachin road.”
“Allegations about the humanitarian consequences of the situation are also false. There are no barriers to the supply of goods or the provision of necessary medical services to local residents. Convoys of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have passed along the road without any difficulty. The Azerbaijani government has repeatedly stated its readiness to promptly meet all humanitarian needs that Armenian residents may face. To this end, the Azerbaijani government is in close contact with the local representation of the ICRC,” the document says.
The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan stressed that almost all the statements of the member states of the UN Security Council called for the fulfillment of obligations under the tripartite statement. “Given Armenia’s clear violation of the points of this document, such calls from members of the UN Security Council must finally be heard and fulfilled by it,” the statement says.
“It is also important that the majority of UN Security Council members call for the continuation of negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan in order to normalize relations. We highly appreciate the calls for mutual recognition of sovereignty and territorial integrity by Armenia and Azerbaijan, including in the context of border delimitation,” the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.
“Azerbaijan has already taken control of part of the Lachin corridor”
“They want to present Azerbaijan as the culprit, although in fact it is absolutely right in its demands,” said Elkhan Shahinoglu, a political scientist and head of the Atlas analytical center, said regarding the discussion in the UN Security Council:
“This is evidenced by the very course of the discussion and calls to Azerbaijan by Western states to open the road. Our arguments are not even listened to. But there is no reason for concern.
There always those who stop their ears when we speak and do not want to hear us. Although if our diplomats had done more competent work, the result could have been different.”
According to Shahinoglu, in the current circumstances there are several options for the development of the situation:
“First option. The protest in the Lachin corridor will continue until the day when the Azerbaijani monitoring group will be given access to the deposits in the territory controlled by the RCC. During this period, the pressure of foreign states on Azerbaijan will continue. But they won’t be able to force Baku to do anything.
For 28 years Armenia has not fulfilled the requirements of four resolutions of the same UN Security Council, and not a single Western state has put pressure on Yerevan in order to force it to comply with the conditions of those documents. If the resolutions of the UN Security Council are not fulfilled, then why should Azerbaijan heed the calls of the same structure?
Second option. The soldiers of the Azerbaijani army have already placed themselves on the road linking Khankendi with Armenia. Even if at some point the protesters leave this territory for a while, the result has already changed in favor of Baku, the Azerbaijani soldiers at this post will check the cars entering and leaving. Civilians and civilian goods, of course, will pass along this road, but weapons, mines and criminals will not.
After that, the Armenians’ argument that “the road is blocked” will not work. But even after that, the requirement to monitor deposits will remain relevant.
Other options are also possible. The main thing is that Azerbaijan has already descended to the road itself, and the separatists transporting weapons and mines along it have lost their peace. At the next stage, we must show the whole world that all civilians – healthy and sick – can freely pass through the checkpoint of the Azerbaijani military.”
