For almost two weeks, since December 12, activists from Azerbaijan have blocked the Latjin Pass, the only major road between Armenia and the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The reason is said to be that they want to express dissatisfaction with illegal and environmentally dangerous mining. The government of Azerbaijan calls the protests spontaneous and legitimate, while the Armenian leadership sees them as staged by the Azeri government.
Since 2020, when there was last a major armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the area, the villages of Nagorno-Karabakh have been virtually isolated from the outside world. Most supplies to the region have been brought there through the now blocked Latjin Pass.
The situation for thousands of people is now uncertain, with imminent shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
Condemns the blockade
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan condemns the blockade, calling it a humanitarian crisis. Armenia’s parliament accuses Azerbaijan of isolating Nagorno-Karabakh and its population from the outside world – accusations the Azeri government rejects.
An AFP correspondent could see two days after the blockade began that Russian military transports were plying the road, but no civilian traffic.
The conflict over Nagorno-Karabch goes back several decades. Archenemies and neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan both claim the area as theirs. Today, the area has a semi-autonomous status, and is mostly inhabited by ethnic Armenians but officially belongs to – and is completely surrounded by – Azerbaijan.
During the 1990s fierce battles raged over the area. In the fall of 2020, fighting broke out again, a war that led to 6,500 deaths before a ceasefire was negotiated with Russian mediation. Russia has since had peacekeeping forces in the area.
Armenia now accuses the Russian forces of having failed in their mission because the blockade has not been able to be stopped.
UN warns of new conflict
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have written to the UN Security Council and Secretary-General António Guterres, with widely differing accounts of the blockade and accusations of crimes against the other side, UN Deputy Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca told the news agency AP.
The US State Department warns that the blockade has serious humanitarian consequences and is a threat to the peace process. And Miroslav Jenca calls on the international community to prevent an escalated conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan before it is too late.