VIDEO: Azerbaijan is doing all this because, according to them, Armenians should not live in Nagorno-Karabakh at all: Pashinyan

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan granted an interview to CNN primanews during his official visit to the Czech Republic on May 4-5. The Government's press service has provided a transcript of the interview, from which we present a portion below:

CNN primanews: It is evident that the main issue for Armenia today is the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Currently, there are about 120,000 Armenians remaining in Nagorno-Karabakh. They are dependent on a single land corridor, which is controlled by Russian troops. So, what is the current economic, humanitarian, and security situation of the population in Nagorno-Karabakh?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan: You know that since December of last year, Azerbaijan has illegally blocked the Lachin corridor. Why do we say 'illegally'? Because according to the trilateral statement of November 9, the Lachin corridor was created to ensure the connection of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh with the Republic of Armenia. And, according to the trilateral statement, Azerbaijan should not have any control over that corridor. Moreover, the corridor is not just a road but also a security zone 5 km wide. Therefore, the blockade is illegal.

The blockade has resulted in a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh because, first, people are deprived of the right to movement, and second, the supplies of food and essential goods are occurring intermittently through peacekeepers and the Red Cross. As a result, people can only purchase goods from stores using vouchers issued by the government of Nagorno-Karabakh in order to manage food supplies.

Since December of last year, there have been persistent shut-offs of natural gas and electric energy in Nagorno-Karabakh, and currently, neither natural gas nor electricity is supplied to Nagorno-Karabakh. During the winter months, the most critical consequence was that all schools and kindergartens were closed, as well as higher education institutions, leaving around 30,000 children and students deprived of the right to education. Of course, with the warming of the weather, both kindergartens and schools and universities have reopened, and the educational process has been restored.

Another important point that must be noted in this regard is the following: In February of 2023, the International Court of Justice made an interim ruling obligating Azerbaijan to unblock the Lachin corridor, ensuring the movement of citizens and goods through the Lachin corridor. Azerbaijan did not fulfill the requirement of this ruling, which is legally binding because the International Court of Justice is the highest judicial authority internationally, and in fact, not only did they not comply, but about ten days ago, they illegally established a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor. This is already a violation not only of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, but also of the ruling made by the International Court of Justice.

Now, why is Azerbaijan doing all this? Our assessment and conviction is that these are not isolated actions but preparations for carrying out ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. When it comes to ethnic cleansing, it is about the fact that according to Azerbaijan, Armenians should not live in Nagorno-Karabakh at all.