On January 18, the European Parliament stated the situation in Artsakh as a result of the closure of the Berdzor Corridor.
Noting in the statement about the disastrous consequences caused by Azerbaijan’s already 39-day blockade of Artsakh, solution options are offered.
Interestingly, the statement does not contain any word about the status of Artsakh. Moreover, it can be stated that the main semantic arrows of the statement are directed directly toward Russia. In particular, criticizing the activities of Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh, a direct proposal is made.
⦁ To replace Russian peacekeepers with OSCE international peacekeepers, by the UN mandate,
⦁ Calls on international organizations to provide unimpeded access to Nagorno-Karabakh to assess the situation and provide the necessary humanitarian assistance.
⦁ Calls for a UN or OSCE fact-finding mission to be sent to the Lachin Corridor to assess the humanitarian situation there.
⦁ Calls for the immediate resumption of negotiations without preconditions, based on the principles of the Helsinki Final Act;
⦁ Calls on the EU to be actively involved and ensure that the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh are no longer hostages of Baku’s activities, the destructive role of Russia, and the inaction of the Minsk Group.
This statement sounds funny, especially in the background of the EU’s refusal to send a fact-finding mission to the Lachine Corridor. Toivo Klaar, the EU’s special representative in the South Caucasus, announced this on his Twitter page. It is at least naïve to think that a) this mission with an international mandate will be prepared to go to Lachi in general, b) Azerbaijan will allow such a step, taking into account the West-Azerbaijan oil and gas interests. Even more remarkable, the EU has expressed its desire to conclude a deep and comprehensive cooperation agreement with Azerbaijan as early as 2020.
Let’s remind you that between October 20 and December 19, 2022, an EU observation group was deployed in Armenia along the Armenian-Azerbaijani relative border to observe, analyze, and report the situation in the region. However, as the facts showed, during that same period, Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire regime with quite active intensity both in Artsakh and in the territory of Armenia, which was given, one might say, zero response. What was the effectiveness of that unarmed civilian mission, which the de facto prime minister recorded, remained dark for us?
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