We want Lachin corridor to be opened immediately - State Department statement

YEREVAN, September 15. /ARKA/. The US State Department wants the Lachin corridor to be opened immediately, the official representative of the State Department Matthew Miller said at a September 14 press briefing.

His statement came in a comment on the letter of an American lawmaker to US President Joe Biden, which states that "the United States should recognize this genocide and act accordingly to save as many lives as possible."

Asked about the State Department's message to suffering Armenian Christians in Nagorno-Karabakh Miller said,’ "We have made that clear. Secretary of State Blinken has engaged with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to make it clear that we want the Lachin corridor opened immediately to address the really dire humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh."

For more than nine  months now, 120,000 Armenians in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) have been under complete blockade of Azerbaijan with no food, medicine, fuel, gas or electricity.

The Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Artsakh with Armenia and the rest of the world was initially blocked by Azerbaijani government-sponsored fake “eco-activists” on December 12, 2022.

Azerbaijan officially institutionalized the blockage of the road by an illegal checkpoint installation on April 23, 2023, grossly violating its international obligations.

Azerbaijan continues to demonstrate a willful disregard for the provisions of the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020, the ECHR ruling of December 21, 2023, as well as ICJ orders issued on February 22 and July 6, 2023, calling on Azerbaijan to urgently “take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.” -0-