BAKU, August 14. /TASS/. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has considered Armenia’s appeal to the UN requesting an emergency session of the Security Council in order to discuss the situation around the Lachin Corridor as Yerevan’s attempt to turn this international body into an instrument for manipulations.
"Despite its first failure in December 2022, Armenia once again attempts to instrumentalize the UN Security Council for its political, military and informational manipulation campaign. <…> Armenia’s appeal to the Security Council on groundless allegations of ‘worsening humanitarian situation’ and ‘continued blockade’ in the region yet again comes at a time when Armenia itself deliberately and intentionally obstructs all the efforts made through international partners to find a balanced, law-based and reasonable solution on the ground," the foreign policy agency’s statement said.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry also accused the Armenian side of disrupting agreements on establishing cargo deliveries and bilateral talks. "Recently, following the series of intensive consultations and shuttle diplomacy efforts, agreement was finally reached with respect to delivery of humanitarian cargo to the Garabagh region through various routes, as well as the organization of the meeting between the Special Representative of Azerbaijan and representatives of local Armenian residents.<…> Regrettably, on August 5, 2023, Armenia, through its illegally installed puppet regime, backstepped from both agreements at a last moment by introducing politically motivated and illegitimate preconditions and various pretexts," the statement emphasized. According to the document, "Had Armenia and its subordinate illegal structure honored the agreement, the situation would have been solved in early August providing a reasonable framework for the delivery of humanitarian cargo to the residents of the Garabagh region, and facilitation of routes for the passage of persons, goods and vehicles."
The statement notes that despite intensive interaction between Azerbaijan, Russia, the US, the EU and the International Committee of the Red Cross in order to find a way out of this situation, "Armenia is deliberately obstructing diplomatic efforts." "Appeal to the Security Council is a part of this campaign and is a serious blow to the efforts being made by involved actors, among them the members of Security Council," Azerbaijan’s diplomatic agency said.
On Saturday, the press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that Yerevan had addressed the UN requesting an emergency session of the Security Council in order to discuss the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.