BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 2. “Unfortunately, until today, the Red Cross Commitee’s office in Karabakh has been subordinated not to Baku office, but to Yerevan offices. This is not acceptable. Because the whole world recognizes Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan,” said President Ilham Aliyev as he was interviewed by Euronews TV channel, Trend reports.
"The International Court of Justice actually addressed its message to us to communicate with civil society activists not to disrupt any kind of movement. And we did it. As soon as we establish the border checkpoint on our border with Armenia, which is our legitimate right and not contested by anyone, including the International Court of Justice, we communicated it through my representative here in Shusha, with NGOs representatives for them to stop. And they stopped, they left. So, now freedom of movement is not blocked. Since we established the border checkpoint on the 23rd of April, there have been more than 2000 residents of Karabakh who easily moved to Armenia and back. On 15th of June, Armenia made another military provocation and wounded one of our border security guards.
The road was temporarily closed for investigation. But then, it was reopened. The Red Cross restarted again to transport medications and evacuate patients who need treatment in Armenia. But unfortunately, the Red Cross trucks when checked, we found smuggling goods like cigarettes, iPhones, and gasoline. The Red Cross admitted that. They communicated with us saying that they do not bear any responsibility because…
These trucks had their logos, and the drivers had their logos on their uniform. So that's how again, it was blocked. And we asked from the Red Cross to stop it and also asked them to work with us more constructively. Unfortunately, until today, their office in Karabakh has been subordinated not to Baku office, but to Yerevan offices. This is not acceptable. Because the whole world recognizes Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. Even the Armenian Prime Minister said many times that “Karabakh is Azerbaijan”. That is our legitimate request as to why the Red Cross Khankendi office is not subordinate to Baku office but to Yerevan office," said the head of state.