Armenian opposition demands from US and France to affect Nagorno-Karabakh situation

Residents of Nagorno-Karabakh are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe due to the damage of the gas pipeline located in Azerbaijani territory; while border villages are shelled, activists of the National Democratic Pole (hereinafter – the Pole) stated at their action in Yerevan. They demanded that the US and France take action in relation to Azerbaijan.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on March 14, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Azerbaijan announced its readiness for negotiations with Yerevan on concluding a peace treaty, subject to a number of principles. In response, Yerevan offered to hold talks under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The Pole held its action in Yerevan "because of the humanitarian catastrophe in Artsakh (the self-name of Nagorno-Karabakh)." The event was held in front of the US and French embassies as the co-chairing countries of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Minsk Group with a demand to interfere in the situation and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the unrecognized republic, Margarita Sadoyan, a Pole activist, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

She read out a letter addressed to Lyn Tracy, the US Ambassador to Armenia, which calls for paying attention to the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. "While the civilized world has rallied against the threat of nuclear war, against the restoration of the new USSR, and in the name of democracy, the Armenian people, who went through the brutal war in 2020, continue being under threat of death," the letter says.

The only gas pipeline running from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh is damaged; dwelling settlements are shelled; people are under psychologically pressure; and the civilians living near the contact line are urged to leave their homes, the letter also states.

In its letter, the Pole calls on the US and France to take steps to prevent Azerbaijan from taking aggressive actions against Nagorno-Karabakh. The opposition has also demanded "to exclude Russia from the OSCE Minsk Group and return the Karabakh conflict to the format of the Minsk Group."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 17, 2022 at 01:57 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.