Armenian PM: “Baku’s actions prove Azerbaijan is responsible for blowing up gas pipe in Karabakh”
Pashinyan’s statement about the gas pipeline explosion
By its actions, Azerbaijan proves that “it is responsible for blowing up gas pipeline” through which gas is supplied from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. This was stated by the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan. Until now, he had refrained from assessing the situation in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, but now the prime minister stressed that the population is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe:
“As you know, on March 7, a gas pipeline leading to Artsakh was blown up in the territory controlled by Azerbaijan. Under various pretexts, Azerbaijan did not allow the repair of the gas pipeline, and as a result, it repaired it itself. As a result, according to our information, a valve was installed on the gas pipeline. On March 18, the gas supply to Artsakh was resumed, and 4 days after that, Azerbaijan simply turned off the valve – without any explosions, thereby proving that it was responsible for the explosion”.
In connection with this critical situation, the Armenian prime minister spoke about the latest actions of Azerbaijan, “provocations, an attempt to pursue a policy of escalation and start a new war, to complete the policy of ethnic cleansing in Artsakh”. At the same time, he stressed that in spite of everything, his government will continue the agenda of establishing peace in the region.
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“Deliberate actions of Azerbaijan in amid cold weather”
The Prime Minister of Armenia stressed that the gas supply was cut off during the days when the cold weather came to NK:
“On March 7, an unprecedented amount of snow fell in Artsakh over the past thirty years, the air temperature dropped to an unprecedented level. On March 21, the record for low temperature and the amount of snow was broken, the snow layer in some places reached one and a half meters, in the capital Stepanakert it was at around 1 meter, the air temperature dropped to -8 degrees. And under these conditions, Artsakh was deliberately deprived of the supply of natural gas, which is vital for heating apartments, kindergartens, schools and hospitals.”
Pashinyan said he has no doubt that “the people of Artsakh will overcome this test too”:
“But realizing this, I must admit that Azerbaijan has served the people of Artsakh with its actions, because this episode with the gas pipeline for the international community will become a very accurate and concise description of the Artsakh problem. Thanks to this episode, the international community will be able to understand the essence of the Karabakh issue without flipping through hundreds of pages and without studying the nuances of history.
This undeniably testifies to the policy of Azerbaijan towards the Armenians of Artsakh. This policy makes it impossible for them to live in their own homeland. For almost a year and a half, Azerbaijan has been beating drums about its glorious victory in the 44-day war of 2020, but the fact that after so much suffering and deprivation, about 117,000 Armenians live in Artsakh today, Azerbaijan considers its biggest defeat. And it has set the task of doing everything to complete its policy of ethnic cleansing in Artsakh”.
The Armenian Prime Minister considered the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan circulated the day before “symbolic and eloquent”. The statement noted that the issue of gas supplies to NK is an internal affair of Azerbaijan:
“If this statement is translated from the diplomatic language, it will mean the following: the international community, closes a blind eye to this issue and allows us to freely, imperceptibly for the international community, through “anti-terrorist operations”, complete the policy of liberating Artsakh from Armenians through ethnic cleansing and genocide policy.
The diplomatic service of Armenia, officials, political forces, media, non-governmental organizations and social media users should present to the international community in detail and widely what is happening in Artsakh over the past 15 days”.
On March 22, the Armenian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the gas supply to NK was interrupted “with the clear intervention of the Azerbaijani side”, which led to a humanitarian crisis:
“The current situation necessitates a clear response from the international community in order to prevent a humanitarian crisis, as well as the immediate and unhindered involvement of international humanitarian organizations in Nagorno-Karabakh”.
International human rights organizations Freedom House and Human rights watch condemned the cutoff in gas supply to NK. They stressed that urgent action must be taken to avoid a further humanitarian crisis. The European Union expressed concern about this, calling for “immediately resuming gas supply to the affected local population, especially given the bad weather conditions”.
According to the Prime Minister of Armenia, Baku’s goal is to divert Armenia from the “peace agenda” with its steps. However, Azerbaijani government does not intend to abandon its goal of establishing stability in the region and “starting an era of peace”. According to Pashinyan, this policy has no alternative, Armenia “should not succumb to such provocations of Azerbaijan”:
“I said earlier that we need strong nerves to implement the peace agenda, and in no case should we deviate from the strategy we have declared”.
“Azerbaijan is not inclined to establish peace”
The escalation of relations with Azerbaijan is perceived by local experts as an attempt to put pressure on Armenia and speed up the signing of a peace treaty. However, the Prime Minister doubts that the Azerbaijani side is actually ready for this. In this regard, Pashinyan recalled the chronology of recent events:
- On March 10, after the accident on the gas pipeline, the proposals of 5 points on the normalization of relations from the Azerbaijani side were submitted to Armenia.
- On March 14, the Armenian side responded to these proposals and appealed to the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group with a request to assist in organizing peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
- On March 21, the Armenian Foreign Minister announced that there was nothing unacceptable in the proposals submitted by Azerbaijan, but they did not address all issues on the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace agenda.
“In our response to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, we have added to our agenda and are ready to start peace talks on this basis. However, on the evening of the same day [March 10], when this position was published, Azerbaijan blocked the gas pipeline. Note that Armenia declares that the proposals of Azerbaijan are acceptable to Armenia, and Azerbaijan blocks the gas pipeline”.
According to Nikol Pashinyan, this proves that Azerbaijan is not inclined to establish peace.
Peace treaty proposals from Armenia
Until that moment, the Armenian government did not disclose the details of what exactly was proposed to the Azerbaijani side. And only during his speech, the prime minister revealed some details. In particular, Pashinyan stated that Yerevan made “proposals for the local withdrawal of positions” of the Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces and the beginning of the process of demarcation and delimitation of the border with Azerbaijan:
“In addition to the complete withdrawal of troops, we have made proposals on local withdrawals, and here we are waiting for Azerbaijan’s response. In particular, in the Yeraskh [border settlement in southern Armenia] sector, we suggested that they withdraw several of their positions from our territory, and we will withdraw several positions from their territory. Thus, we would bilaterally resolve the issue of one of the hottest spots of the last year and a half. We are waiting for Azerbaijan’s response”.
The Prime Minister stressed that the Armenian side is ready to start implementing its proposals at any moment. According to Pashinyan, the situation in the world and in the region is rather tense, and the government considers itself responsible for de-escalation and the search for definitive solutions:
“In this regard, we believe that peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan should begin as soon as possible”.
