The Artsakh Foreign Ministry stated adopting the PACE resolution "Ensures free and safe access through the Lachin Corridor."
"We consider it necessary to mention the resolution "Ensuring free and safe access through the Lachin Corridor" adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on June 22, 2023, with an absolute majority of votes, which calls on Azerbaijan to ensure free and safe movement through the Lachin Corridor by the November 9, 2020- of the Tripartite Declaration, as well as to immediately implement the interim measures applied by the ECHR on December 21, 2022, and the decision of the International Court of Justice of February 22, 2023.
Recognizing the fact of the use of force by Azerbaijan in 2020, Baku's unilateral actions aimed at blocking the Lachin Corridor, which led to the violation of the rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, the PACE for the first time records Azerbaijan's statutory and convention obligations to the CE, as well as to the organization the violation of the commitment made during the accession regarding the exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
We also highlight the Assembly's conclusion that the situation created by Azerbaijan may lead to the Armenian population having to leave their homes if the conflict is not resolved politically. In this regard, we emphasize that the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh have repeatedly drawn the attention of international organizations and the public of states in general to the fact that the blockade of the Lachin Corridor is part of the broader policy of Azerbaijan, the purpose of which is to carry out ethnic cleansing.
We consider it essential that in the adopted resolution, PACE records the situation in the Republic of Artsakh as a result of the illegal blockade imposed by Azerbaijan and the deliberate creation of an energy crisis, as well as their catastrophic humanitarian consequences and calls on Azerbaijan to restore gas and electricity supplies to Artsakh from Armenia immediately.
We fully share the concern expressed in the resolution regarding the hostile and threatening rhetoric used by the top leadership of Azerbaijan towards ethnic Armenians. We support the call of the PACE to send a fact-finding mission of the Council of Europe to the Lachin Corridor and the Republic of Artsakh, as well as to ensure the unhindered access of international organizations, including relevant agencies of the United Nations, to Artsakh.
We emphasize the calls made in the resolution to start a peaceful dialogue between Stepanakert and Baku using international mechanisms. We reaffirm the consistent position of the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh, based on the principles of cooperation and equality of rights of the parties, within the framework of the internationally recognized negotiation format, to discuss all controversial issues and contradictions, to seek a fair, dignified and comprehensive solution to the conflict with Azerbaijan through peaceful negotiations.
Taking into account the complete inhumane blockade of Artsakh, the continued illegal and criminal actions by Azerbaijan in conditions of total indulgence, and as a result, the sharply worsening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, we call on the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the Committee of Ministers to immediately respond to the undeniable facts of the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor and to act urgently the mechanisms of the organization to hold Azerbaijan responsible and to prevent further violations of the individual and collective rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh."
