Artsakh Foreign Ministry Issues Statement

The Artsakh Foreign Ministry welcomes the calls made by the European Parliament to the authorities of Azerbaijan in the resolutions adopted on March 15, 2023, urging them to ensure freedom and security of movement through the Lachin Corridor in accordance with the November 9, 2020 trilateral declaration, as well as to fulfill their obligations established by the International Court of Justice ruling from February 22, 2023.

This was stated in the Artsakh Foreign Ministry’s commentary regarding the European Parliament's adoption of resolutions on EU-Armenia and EU-Azerbaijan relations: “In this regard, we express our support for the European Parliament's call to the EU Council to impose targeted sanctions against Azerbaijani state officials if the International Court of Justice ruling from February 22, 2023, is not promptly implemented. We consider it important that the European Parliament explicitly recognized in its resolutions that the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, which has lasted for more than three decades and has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties, massive destruction, and the forced displacement of thousands, remains unresolved.”

Specifically, Members of the European Parliament have expressed justified and well-founded concerns regarding the fact that the provisions of the November 9, 2020 ceasefire declaration made after the 44-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan have not been fully implemented. Fatal military clashes regularly erupt, and the ceasefire regime has been breached multiple times, leading to hundreds of casualties and the new occupation of territories, including those of the Republic of Armenia by Azerbaijani forces. Since December 12, 2022, movement through the Lachin Corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh has been blocked, adversely affecting the supply of food and other essential goods to Artsakh.

The European Parliament also acknowledged and condemned Turkey's expansionist and destabilizing role in the South Caucasus in its resolution on EU-Azerbaijan relations, including its involvement in sending Syrian mercenaries to the conflict zone to participate in military operations by Azerbaijan. They have expressed that for Turkey to play a constructive role in the region, it should reconsider its unconditional support for Azerbaijan and take concrete steps to normalize relations with Armenia.

We share the position of the Members of the European Parliament that stable and lasting peace cannot be achieved through military means or the use or threat of force; instead, a comprehensive political settlement is necessary based on the principles of international law, including the UN Charter and the principles enshrined in the 1975 Helsinki Final Act regarding non-use of force, territorial integrity, equality, and the self-determination of peoples, as well as the fundamental principles of the OSCE Minsk Group from 2009.

In this regard, we agree with the Members of the European Parliament that to achieve comprehensive peace, it is essential to stop all acts of violence and address the root causes of the conflict, including ensuring the security and rights of the Armenian population of Artsakh, determining the final status of Artsakh, as well as solving the issue of the rapid and safe return of all refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes.

We are confident that the resolutions of the European Parliament, including the proposals to impose sanctions against Azerbaijani officials, will be an important contribution to the collective efforts aimed at ending the blockade and halting Azerbaijan's criminal plans to carry out ethnic cleansing and genocide in Artsakh.