Azerbaijanis Forcing Our Citizens to Comply with Their Demands: Artsakh State Minister

Our citizens, with the support of peacekeepers, have crossed the road unilaterally and without interruption. However, due to the placement of a checkpoint, they encountered Azerbaijanis on their way back to their settlements, along with compatriots remaining in Goris. The latter put our citizens in a desperate situation, forcing them to comply with their demands and filming the process to display yet another staged performance. This was stated by Artsakh State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan on his Facebook page.

"Since April 23, 2023, Azerbaijan has illegally established a checkpoint on the Artsakh-Armenia border (in the Lachin corridor), as a result of which the communities of Shushi region in Artsakh have been completely blockaded, cut off from both Stepanakert and the Republic of Armenia. Since April 23, the humanitarian situation of residents in the communities of Metsi Shen, Hini Shen, Yeghkzakhogh, and Lisagor in the Shushi region has worsened day by day. Attempts have been made to deliver food and medicine to these communities through the Red Cross office in Artsakh, but these efforts have not yielded results.

With the support of Russian peacekeepers, three minors who remained in Goris have initially returned to their parents, but Azerbaijan has prohibited the return of the others.

To address the urgent humanitarian issues of the residents of villages under complete and bilateral blockade, a group of residents appealed to the Russian peacekeepers present on-site, who allowed them to pass without inspection through the checkpoint installed near the Hakari Bridge, assuring that there would be no checking intervention by Azerbaijanis.

Our citizens crossed the road unilaterally and without interruption with the support of peacekeepers. However, due to the checkpoint, they encountered Azerbaijanis on their way back to their settlements from Goris. The latter forced our citizens into a desperate situation, requiring them to comply with their demands and filming the process to display yet another staged performance.

This is further evidence that the illegal checkpoint established by Azerbaijan obstructs the free movement of Artsakh citizens, vehicles, and cargo, violating the provisions of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, and the decision of the International Court of Justice of the United Nations. The people of the Republic of Artsakh are awaiting the restoration of the Lachin corridor as defined by the Trilateral Statement, with a corridor of 5 km wide solely under the control of Russian peacekeeping forces.

It should be noted that earlier Azerbaijani media outlets circulated a video showing Artsakh residents freely passing through the checkpoint located on the Hakari Bridge. The video caused outrage among the people of Artsakh.