Azerbaijan Cuts Off Armenians in Disputed Region // FAI WIRE // FAI ONLINE

Over 120,000 ethnic Armenians are isolated in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh after the only supply route from Armenia to the disputed territory was blocked last Monday by a large group of Azerbaijanis claiming to be “environmental activists.” Russian peacekeepers in charge of keeping the Lachin Corridor open have so far failed to intervene, leaving the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh running short on food, fuel, and medical supplies. The transport of natural gas was allowed to resume on Thursday.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claimed that the “protest” was staged by the Azerbaijani government as a means of pressuring Armenia during the vulnerable winter season, describing the blockade as a "humanitarian crisis.” The Azerbaijani government claims that the protests were spontaneous and legitimate, due to “illegal mining” in Nagorno-Karabakh and the transport of minerals to Armenia across the Lachin land bridge. The political leader in the region claimed that Azerbaijan’s actions were “inflaming internal tensions and panic.” US State Department spokesman Ned Price warned that the situation “has severe humanitarian implications and sets back the peace process” between the two nations.

Images of protesters waving Azerbaijani flags were shared across social media, revealing that some of the protesters are employed by the Azeri government’s environmental agencies. The Ministry of Ecology and Environmental Resources has also provided tents for the “protesters.” Video recorded by journalists at the site of the standoff shows Azeri soldiers guarding the crowd and confronting a group of Russian peacekeepers who were attempting to intervene.

*A map of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh (via aljazeera.com).*

Nagorno-Karabakh has historically been an Armenian cultural center with an Armenian majority population, but was granted to Azerbaijan by Russia in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Armenia recaptured the disputed territory by the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994, but the region remains internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. Under Armenian occupation for 25 years, the Armenian population formed a de-facto autonomous state named Artsakh, which includes a local government and a flag. Then in September 2020, with political and military support from Turkey, the Azerbaijani military began an offensive to capture over one-third of the disputed region before a Russian-brokered ceasefire ended hostilities in November. Over 5,000 Russian peacekeepers were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh, including 2,000 deployed to the Lachin Corridor in order to keep the land bridge open.

We ask the Maranatha global family to continue in prayer for the people of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh as they face a cold winter season with diminishing food, fuel and medicine. We pray that the Azerbaijani government would be pressured by the international community to drop its blockade, that needed supplies would be delivered promptly, and that the ongoing crisis between the two nations would open a “wide, effectual door” for Good News of Great Joy in the Caucus Region.

Maranatha.