Nagorno-Karabakh residents alerted by idea of travelling through Kelbadjar

Residents of Nagorno-Karabakh fear that in case if an alternative road is open between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan may achieve the closure of the Lachin corridor. Some of the Nagorno-Karabakh residents doubt that travels through the territory controlled by Azerbaijan would be safe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 18, in Nagorno-Karabakh, activists held a protest action and asked the peacekeepers to provide residents of the unrecognized republic with an opportunity to pass to Armenia through the territory controlled by Azerbaijan.

The route through Karvachar (the Azerbaijani name is Kelbadjar, – note of the "Caucasian Knot"), which is an alternative road to the Lachin corridor, is also better for those who travel to Armenia from Stepanakert, student Dmitry Saakyan believes. The student notes that before the autumn escalation of the conflict, he preferred to travel through Karvachar. An alternative road is necessary in case of force majeure, the student adds.

The protest action with the blocking of the road was a provocation, the purpose of which is to close the road communication through Berdzor, suggests farmer Garik Melkumyan from the village of Vank in the Martakert District. "The Azerbaijani side gets no benefits when Armenians travelling past Shushi. The Azerbaijanis want to expel the Armenians from the remaining villages and towns of the Lachin corridor and villages in the Shushi District and thus cut off Shushi from the fragments of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh, – note of the 'Caucasian Knot')," Garik Melkumyan said.