BAKU, Sep 6 Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said that there will be no more gray areas in the country and the only way for the Armenians of Karabakh is to discuss their future as part of Azerbaijan.
«The only way (for Karabakh Armenians — ed.) is dialogue and discussion of their future within Azerbaijan. There is simply no other way, since everything else is illegitimate. This is our red line. There will be no more gray areas on the territory of Azerbaijan» , Bayramov said in an interview with AzerTaj and Magyar Demokrata agencies. According to him, there are «illegal military formations numbering about 10,000» people in the region, which is a «serious source of tension.»
At the same time, the head of Azerbaijani diplomacy claims, the Lachin corridor is used by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who bring medicines and «other necessary items» to the region. «Every day, dozens of Armenian residents calmly pass through the (Azerbaijani) checkpoint (in the Lachin corridor) in both directions. They transport sick people; in addition, the ICRC brings medicines and other necessary items to the region. Baku's position is to use all alternative routes (connections to Karabakh , including roads from Aghdam — ed.). If the issue (communications of Karabakh with the rest of the world — ed.) really was from the humanitarian field, it would be resolved in a very short time by opening several roads in parallel,» the Foreign Minister noted Azerbaijan.
At the end of September 2020, hostilities resumed in Nagorno-Karabakh, which became a continuation of a long-term conflict. The parties made several attempts to conclude a truce, but the tripartite agreement reached on the night of November 10 was successful. With the mediation of Moscow, Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to cease fire, remaining in their positions, and to exchange prisoners and the bodies of the dead. In addition, the Kelbajar and Lachin regions, as well as part of the Aghdam region, which were previously under the control of the unrecognized NKR and were not occupied by the Azerbaijani army during the hostilities, crossed Baku. Russian peacekeepers have been stationed in the region, including the Lachin corridor.
Last year, Yerevan and Baku, mediated by Russia, the United States and the European Union, began discussing a future peace treaty. At the end of May 2023, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that his country would recognize the sovereignty of Azerbaijan along with the territory of Karabakh, on a total area of 86.6 thousand square kilometers. Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan and Armenia may sign a peace treaty in the near future if Yerevan does not change its position.
On April 23, 2023, Azerbaijani border guards set up a checkpoint on the border with Armenia — it appeared at the beginning of the road in the Lachin corridor that leads to Stepanakert. The checkpoint is located on a new highway built after the 2020 ceasefire to bypass Lachin — at the bridge over the Khakari River, 16 kilometers east of the village of Tekh in the Syunik region of Armenia. Earlier, since December 2022, the same road was blocked by Azerbaijani environmental activists — according to them, the action became an expression of protest against the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits in Karabakh. The appearance of the checkpoint in Baku was explained by the unlawful use of the road to Stepanakert by the Armenian side and security threats. The Armenian Foreign Ministry called the establishment of the checkpoint a gross violation of the tripartite statement of the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan in 2020. The Armenian authorities draw attention to the fact that the blocking of the Lachin corridor has led to a humanitarian catastrophe in Nagorno-Karabakh.