Disappointment Regarding Separate Delegations at UN Security Council Meeting: Artsakh Foreign Ministry

Artsakh's Foreign Ministry has issued a statement regarding the UN Security Council meeting that addressed the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh.

We welcome the UN Security Council meeting held on August 16, 2023, dedicated to discussing the humanitarian crisis arising from Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor in the Republic of Artsakh. We express our gratitude to the countries that remained committed to the principles of international law and humanity and emphasized the urgent need for the unblocking of the Lachin corridor and the delivery of essential goods to the needy population of Artsakh in their speeches.

At the same time, it is disappointing that specific delegations have attempted to find an imaginary and dangerously flawed balance between the Artsakh people's desire to live freely, safely, and with dignity in their homeland, and Azerbaijan's ambitions to subjugate and annihilate them through violent means. There can be no compromise between universal values of freedom, human dignity, peace, and justice on one side, and the extreme manifestations of systematic and widespread human rights violations aimed at the physical destruction of people on the other.

We expect the member countries of the UN Security Council to show consistency and a principled position in preventing further criminal actions against the people of Artsakh and to strengthen their stance by adopting a resolution that would obligate Azerbaijan to remove the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor unconditionally and without any connection to alternative routes, strictly in accordance with the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, and the decisions of the International Court of Justice. Given Azerbaijan's clear genocidal intent, any attempt to hinder the UN Security Council's efforts to end the inhumane blockade of Artsakh and the humanitarian disaster will amount to tacit approval, if not complicity, of the crimes committed by Baku.