Dhe tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan are growing. The background to this is the eight-month blockade of Nagornyi Karabakh, the region on Azerbaijani territory inhabited by a majority of Armenians. Last Friday, Armenia called on the UN Security Council to hold a special session on the situation in the South Caucasus region. The latter is “on the cusp of a full humanitarian catastrophe,” it said in a letter.
Since December, Baku has been blocking the Lachin Corridor, the supply route from Armenia to Nagorny Karabakh. The region lacks food, medicine, hygiene products, fuel, electricity and gas. The government in Yerevan has now stressed that the UN Security Council is responsible for “preventing ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and genocide”. Previously, the former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, had warned in an “expert opinion” of a “genocide” against the Karabakh Armenians. “Hunger is the invisible weapon of genocide”. If nothing happens, “this group of Armenians will be wiped out in a few weeks,” according to the Argentine lawyer.
Yerevan has been on the defensive since the recent flare-up of the Nagorno-Karabakh war in autumn 2020. Baku was then able to reconquer areas that Armenia had controlled since the early 1990s. Yerevan is therefore trying to get international support. Apparently in response to the Armenian appeal to the UN Security Council, Baku accused opponents on Monday of having expanded “military actions” in Nagornyi Karabakh in recent weeks. In addition, “in the past few days, a large number” of Armenian weapons and soldiers have been observed along the undemarcated border between the two countries. The aim is “another military adventure” by Armenia.
The rhetoric is reminiscent of the armed conflict of 2020, for which Baku blamed Yerevan. The Armenian Defense Ministry rejected the allegations. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently warned Baku of missing a “historic opportunity for peace” between the two countries with a view to talks about a possible peace treaty.
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