BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 29. Armenia, through the illegal regime in Azerbaijan's Karabakh, continues to obstruct the transfer of humanitarian assistance through the Aghdam-Khankendi route, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov said in the letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Trend reports.
According to Bayramov, Armenia also organizes so-called public protests against the usage of alternative routes for the delivery of cargo and services and, recklessly, instrumentalize the residents for its malign political agenda of ethnic and racial hatred.
"As such, it undermines the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence regarding international humanitarian assistance and non-interference with the sovereignty and consent of the recipient country as reflected in relevant United Nations documents," the minister noted. "This arbitrary denial of humanitarian assistance based on ethnic hatred is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, provides the most vivid evidence of Armenia's politicization and abuse of the activities of ICRC and proves that allegations of the so-called "blockade" are false and groundless."
"The above-mentioned is enough to eliminate any doubt that, by speculating about an "illegal blockade" and "humanitarian crisis", Armenia in essence engages in a reckless exercise of misleading and manipulating the international community, including the Security Council, in an attempt to blackmail Azerbaijan and impose its agenda of torpedoing post-conflict normalization efforts on the international community," he pointed out.
"Allegations of deliberate disruption of the electricity and gas supply to Karabakh region by Azerbaijan are equally unsubstantiated. Suffice it here to recall the order of the International Court of Justice of 22 February 2023, in which the Court essentially rejected Armenia's request for an indication of a provisional measure on Azerbaijan on the basis of these allegations," Bayramov further said.
"Such attempts of Armenia take place at a time when there is a historic opportunity for the eventual normalization of relations between the two countries after a 30-year-long bloody conflict. Past months have witnessed a significant intensification of the normalization process with the active engagement of international partners. The talks have allowed the sides to narrow down their differences and achieve progress on several articles of future bilateral agreement on the establishment of peace and inter-State relations," he added.
The issue of transportation of humanitarian goods for the Armenian residents of Karabakh in the direction of Barda-Aghdam was discussed during the meeting of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President of the Council of the European Union Charles Michel in Brussels on July 15.