Ongoing blockade of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)

Azerbaijan has been blocking the Lachin Corridor – the only land connection to Artsakh (Nagorno Karabach) – for almost eight months. Around 120,000 people are affected by the blockade, including 30,000 children. “They are unable to leave their home, and they are cut off from food supplies, access to medicines, gas, and electricity,” stated Tessa Hofmann, the STP’s coordinator for Armenia. “Meanwhile, the Alijev regime has even banned the International Red Cross from providing humanitarian aid or ambulance services. On June 22, the armed forces of Azerbaijan had installed huge concrete blocks at the entrance to the Lachin Corridor, as another means of provocation:”

At the beginning of July, two children had died because of the blockade of the corridor – an awful tragedy: The mother of three-year old Leo and six-year-old Gita, living in the village of Aghabekalanj in the region Martakert in Artsakh, had gone to the district town Martakert, five kilometers away, to buy rationed cooking oil and sugar, because her family had nothing to eat. The children did not wait for their mother, but tried to get to Martakert themselves and died in a tragic accident.

Since 2022, international and local human rights organizations as well as genocide experts have been warning of an imminent genocide of the Armenian population in Artsakh. However, the appeals of the people in Artsakh and their government have so far been just as ineffective as those of human rights organizations.

Thus, the STP would like to appeal to the German Chancellor and the Minister of Foreign Affairs once again:

• Azerbaijan must be subjected to sanctions until it complies with the orders of the International Court of Justice and opens up the Lachin Corridor.
• In the scope of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace negotiations, it will be necessary to respect the right to self-determination of the Armenians of Artsakh. 
• Germany must become involved – not least because of the historic responsibility due to the Ottoman genocide of the Armenians.

In 1921, the region of Artsakh was put under the command of Soviet Azerbaijan – against the will of the Armenian people, who accounted for 94 percent of the population. During the disintegration of the USSR, the people of Artsakh managed to free themselves from Azerbaijan’s rule – but then lost another third of the entire population in the fall of 2020, in the course of an Azerbaijani military attack. During the 30 years in which the region was effectively independent, the Republic of Armenia had not dared to officially recognize the Republic of Artsakh, let alone to integrate it. In May of 2023, in the course of peace negotiations, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia had recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), despite protests from the Artsakh government.