US-Azerbaijan: Secretary Blinken hears President Aliyev, focus on Nagorno-Karabakh
US-Azerbaijan: Secretary Blinken hears President Aliyev, focus on Nagorno-Karabakh
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday had a telephone conversation with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, to whom he expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to a statement from the State Department. Blinken highlighted the urgent need to ensure the free transit of commercial, humanitarian and private vehicles through the Lachin Corridor; to find a compromise on alternative routes and to "maintain a positive impulse on peace negotiations". In Nagorno-Karabakh "genocide is underway" and war between Armenia and Azerbaijan "is very probable".
This was stated by the Armenian premier, Nikol Pashinyan, in an interview reported by various international media. Yerevan's head of government accused the Azerbaijani army of creating a "ghetto" in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. “This is not the preparation of a genocide, but an ongoing genocide,” Pashinyan said. According to the Armenian premier, "a new war with Azerbaijan is very likely until a peace treaty is signed and this is not ratified by the parliaments of the two countries". It is hardly necessary to recall that tensions and violence between Armenians and Azeris had already begun in the final years of the Soviet Union, evolving into open war between 1992 and 1994. The theater of the clash has become Nagorno Karabakh, an autonomous region with a majority Armenian within the borders of Azerbaijan. The conflict had ended in a victory for Yerevan who had gained control of that territory.
In 2020 the forces of Baku went on the counterattack and after 44 days of clashes, costing the lives of about seven thousand people, a ceasefire was reached. However, since November 2020 there have been multiple acts of violence, attacks and violations of the truce. In the context of the conflict, it is worth noting the role played by Russia, traditionally close to Armenia but also on good terms with Azerbaijan, and Turkey, an ally of the Azeris and historical enemy of the Armenians.
