Harutyunyan: By establishing checkpoint in Lachin Corridor, Baku has  seriously threatened further validity of Tripartite Declaration of  November 9, 2020

ArmInfo. Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan once again stated that the blocking of the  internationally recognized Lachin (Kashatagh) corridor, which is in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping forces, and the establishment of a checkpoint there,  is absolutely unacceptable.

He recalled that this assessment was given on April 23 following the  meeting of the NKR Security Council.  "By this step of Azerbaijan,  the people of Artsakh have finally become a hostage in Azerbaijani  hands, and this happens against the backdrop of increasing risks of  ethnic cleansing. Moreover, with this step, Baku has seriously  threatened the further validity of the Tripartite Declaration of  November 9, 2020. We also appealed to the parties to the Tripartite  Declaration, and especially to the Russian Federation to start  immediate discussions with a view to deblocking Artsakh and  liquidating the Azerbaijani checkpoint, as well as providing real  security guarantees to the people of Artsakh. We continue to expect  effective steps to address the security and humanitarian problems  facing the people of Artsakh," Harutyunyan noted in an interview with  the Artsakh media.

At the same time, he called unacceptable and regrettable the fact  that Azerbaijan not only grossly violates the provisions of the  Tripartite Declaration, but also does not comply with the mandatory  decisions of the International Court of Justice and the European  Court of Human Rights.

"Therefore, our reasonable expectation from all responsible actors of  the international community is to exert appropriate pressure on  Azerbaijan for the immediate and full implementation of the  abovementioned obligations," the head of Artsakh said.

Referring to the attacks of the President of Azerbaijan against the  people of Artsakh, with the intention of allegedly "reintegrating"  them and allegations that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been  resolved, Harutyunyan noted that today much more in demand and  desirable is the integration of the political leadership of  Azerbaijan into the civilized world, political culture, human rights  and the system of democratic values. He expressed confidence that  this step would resolve many issues in Azerbaijan's relations with  neighboring states.

"As for the Azerbaijani-Artsakh conflict, for the third year the  President of Azerbaijan has been trying to convince the world that  the Nagorno-Karabakh issue has been resolved and that the concept of  "Nagorno- Karabakh" no longer exists. However, the problem is that he  does not have the agreement of the general international community  for all these claims. The issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh  remains unresolved at the international level, and this should be  taken into account," said the leader of Artsakh.

At the same time, Harutyunyan advised at times to look for answers to  questions in the history of the conflict. In this vein, he recalled  that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the former Armenian SSR,  the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAR) and the Azerbaijan SSR  simultaneously declared their independence in accordance with  international law and the legislation of the USSR.

"The self-determined Nagorno-Karabakh did not participate in the  formation of the constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan. However,  the newly formed Republic of Azerbaijan presented unfounded claims to  Nagorno-Karabakh. At the same time, the international community from  the very beginning recorded the fact of disagreements on the status  of Nagorno-Karabakh," he said, pointing to an extremely important  circumstance in this connection.

He drew attention to the fact that on January 30, 1992, Azerbaijan,  being recognized by only a few states, joined the CSCE on the same  day as Armenia. Moreover, according to him, the sovereignty of these  states was recognized by the CSCE on the condition that they, in  turn, r accept the fact of disagreement regarding their aspirations  for Nagorno-Karabakh and agree that the issue of the future status of  Nagorno-Karabakh will be decided during a peace conference, to be  held under the auspices of the CSCE.

Harutyunyan drew attention to the fact that both Armenia and  Azerbaijan agreed with a similar formulation of the issue, thereby  accepting the international status of Nagorno-Karabakh as a disputed  territory and undertaking to resolve the issue peacefully. However,  he continued, after joining the CSCE, Azerbaijan immediately violated  its international obligations,  by large-scale military aggression  against Nagorno- Karabakh and lost in it. " The Republic of Artsakh  (NKR) was established de facto as a result of the victory achieved in  the first Karabakh war of 1992-94. The line of contact between the  armed forces of the NKR and Azerbaijan received international  recognition. Harutyunyan drew attention to the fact that until now  there are no agreements in international negotiations regarding the  status of NKR and the demarcation line between NKR and Azerbaijan.

"There are no agreements on the status in the tripartite declaration  of November 9, 2020, which means that Nagorno-Karabakh still has the  international status of a contested or disputed territory, but never  a part of Azerbaijan," Harutyunyan said.

He also drew attention to the fact that Azerbaijan officially  renounced the succession of Soviet Azerbaijan and declared itself the  successor of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic of 1918-1920.

"And here, in that pre-Soviet period, Nagorno Karabakh was considered  a disputed territory at the international level, officially  recognized by the League of Nations (while Azerbaijan was not even  recognized as a state by the League of Nations - ed. note).It is also  noteworthy that at that time Nagorno- Karabakh had much wider  borders, and in the first years of its existence as part of the USSR,  it even had a common border with the Armenian SSR. From these facts,  a very important question arises as to whether the fact of the  disputed status and territories of Nagorno-Karabakh was not  recognized by the fundamental documents proclaiming the independence  of Azerbaijan," Harutyunyan asked.