US urges Azerbaijan to allow immediate aid to enclave Armenians

The United States on Thursday urged Azerbaijan immediately to allow aid into the breakaway Armenian-dominated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh as international concern mounts over the humanitarian situation.

The State Department said it was “deeply concerned about deteriorating humanitarian conditions” in Nagorno-Karabakh, months after Azerbaijan allegedly blocked the only road link into the enclave.

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“We reiterate our call to immediately reopen the Lachin corridor to humanitarian, commercial and passenger traffic,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

He called on Azerbaijani officials and representatives in the breakaway region to enter talks “without delay to agree on the means of transporting critical provisions” to civilians.

“Basic humanitarian assistance should never be held hostage to political disagreements,” he said.

Self-described environmental protesters in December began blocking the Lachin corridor, the only way into Nagorno-Karabakh, which remains internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan and has triggered two wars between the former Soviet republics.

Azerbaijan, which made significant territorial gains in the second war in 2020, insists that the road remains open.

Criticism led by members of the Armenian diaspora has been mounting.

Azerbaijan on Thursday summoned France’s ambassador to protest after French politicians including the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, tried unsuccessfully to escort a 10-truck humanitarian convoy into the enclave.

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