Nagorno-Karabakh: 'People are fainting queuing up for bread'

They telephone it the Road of Life, arsenic it is the lone way connecting 120,000 taste Armenians surviving successful Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh portion with the Republic of Armenia.

But for astir 9 months the Lachin Corridor has been blocked by Azerbaijani authorities, resulting successful terrible shortages of food, medication, hygiene products and substance successful the breakaway region.

Eighteen-year aged Hayk is lasting connected the balcony of a humble edifice successful Goris connected the Armenian broadside of the borderline with Azerbaijan, speaking to his parent connected a video call.

"No eggs, nary sugar, determination are nary sweets astatine all, breadstuff is being rationed, got up astatine 04:00 the different time to basal successful the queue," says his mother, speaking from the Karabakh municipality of Martakert.

Hayk is not his existent name. I person changed it for his ain safety.

Armenians are incapable to scope their families connected the different broadside of the Lachin Corridor due to the fact that it has been blocked by Azerbaijan since December.

No autarkic media person been capable to scope the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Photos and videos of bare shops person been circulating connected societal media.

"People are lasting successful queues for hours to get minimal nutrient rations. People are fainting successful the breadstuff queues," section writer Irina Hayrapetyan says successful a recorded dependable connection from wrong the taste Armenian enclave.

"We person nary substance for transport and radical person to locomotion galore kilometres by ft to basal successful queues to bargain immoderate they tin to provender their families."

Local authorities successful Nagorno-Karabakh accidental 1 successful 3 deaths is owed to malnutrition.

"I cognize a lawsuit erstwhile a large pistillate mislaid her kid due to the fact that determination was nary petrol to get her to hospital," says Hayk's mother.

She speaks of nary state since March, nary fuel, nary medicine - not adjacent shampoo - and regular powerfulness cuts. With wintertime coming it volition get worse.

Her lad feels hatred, fearfulness and despair: "Because I recognize sooner oregon aboriginal my home, my city, my state volition beryllium taken by Azerbaijan."

For Karabakh Armenians their location is Artsakh, a self-declared republic that does not beryllium connected the satellite map, arsenic this mountainous enclave is portion of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Despite having truthful overmuch successful communal culturally, the 2 South Caucasus states of Armenia and Azerbaijan person fought for power of this onshore for decades successful wars that person outgo tens of thousands of lives.

In the astir caller six-week warfare successful 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured each the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh held by Armenia since 1994.

A ceasefire brokered by Russia relied connected the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to warrant the information of taste Armenians and to power the Lachin Corridor, allowing for the escaped question of radical and goods betwixt Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia.

But with Russia's absorption connected the warfare successful Ukraine, Azerbaijan blocked the roadworthy to Nagorno-Karabakh's determination superior Stepanakert (known successful Azerbaijan arsenic Khandendi) with government-backed biology activists past December.

In April, Azerbaijan installed its ain subject checkpoint astatine the entranceway to the Lachin Corridor justifying its "sovereign right" and "full restoration of its territorial integrity". It accused Armenia of utilizing the roadworthy to bring successful subject supplies, which Armenia denies.

The lone planetary humanitarian organisations with entree to Nagorno-Karabakh are the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the mine-clearance organisation, the Halo Trust.

The Halo Trust says it has been incapable to deploy demining teams successful caller weeks due to the fact that its unit are excessively exhausted to enactment aft queuing for breadstuff each nighttime and returning location empty-handed. It says halting operations successful Martakert is peculiarly unfortunate arsenic it has go a hub for radical displaced by the warfare successful 2020 - and they are present astatine hazard of wounded arsenic good arsenic malnutrition.

Although the Red Cross has been carrying retired aesculapian evacuations it has not been capable to warrant harmless passage, arsenic the Khachatryan household recovered retired connected 29 July.

That was the time 68-year-old Vagif Khachatryan was being transported to Armenia's superior Yerevan for urgent country for a bosom condition.

"When they approached the Azerbaijani checkpoint, they said they needed to instrumentality him for 10 minutes to inquire him a fewer questions," says his girl Vera Khachatryan. "My begetter was taken distant with a Red Cross employee; a fewer minutes aboriginal the Red Cross worker returned but my begetter was taken successful an chartless direction."

Originally from Karabakh, she moved to the Armenian municipality of Jermuk aft her colony was returned to Azerbaijan arsenic portion of the ceasefire agreement.

"Now each minute, each 2nd I americium thinking: What if his bosom stops?"

Azerbaijan's authorities person accused her begetter of warfare crimes committed during the First Karabakh warfare successful 1992.

"There are a batch of eyewitnesses who recognise him done media reports. We ne'er said warfare criminals shouldn't look justice," says Hikmet Hajiyev, peculiar advisor to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev.

Vera says the accusations are untrue. "Defending your state is not a crime. There cannot beryllium a just proceedings successful Azerbaijan. Maybe determination volition beryllium justness 1 day, but we don't person the clip to hold for it."

Vagif Khachatryan's lawsuit has sent a daze question among men successful Nagorno-Karabakh. Three young Karabakh Armenian shot players were detained this week astatine the aforesaid checkpoint for desecrating the Azerbaijani emblem successful 2021.

The fearfulness present is that immoderate taste Armenian antheral could look the aforesaid destiny if they effort to cross.

Vera's 2 different sisters stay successful Karabakh nether blockade.

"My sister's granddaughter is 2 months old, determination is nary babe formula, her parent does not person capable beverage arsenic she is not eating properly. There is nary medicine for my 22-year-old nephew who was brain-damaged during the war, helium mislaid his quality to talk and his close limb does not move."

This period the US called connected Azerbaijan to reconstruct escaped question on the Lachin Corridor during an exigency UN Security Council gathering connected the crisis.

The International Court of Justice had already told Azerbaijan it had a legally binding bid to let "unimpeded question of persons, vehicles and cargo" connected the roadworthy successful some directions.

But Armenians are sceptical of the planetary community's committedness to resoluteness the crisis. Protesters successful Yerevan person blocked the entranceway to the UN bureau with nutrient and sacks of flour to request the road's reopening.

Azerbaijan denies a humanitarian situation is unfolding. It says it wants afloat power of the territory, and has offered an alternate proviso way via the municipality of Agdam, retaken during the 2020 war.

"Then afterwards the Lachin roadworthy volition beryllium opened successful 24 hours arsenic well. More roads are amended for everybody," says the Azerbaijani president's peculiar adviser.

Hikmet Hajiyev says Karabakh Armenians person been offered the aforesaid "linguistic, cultural, religious, including municipal rights" arsenic Azerbaijani citizens.

But Armenia's ambassador astatine large, Edmon Marukyan, accuses Azerbaijan of making mendacious promises erstwhile determination is lone 1 way connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. "They privation to effort and alteration the absorption of the planetary community, to dissolve the knowing and work of the Lachin Corridor."

Former UN peculiar rapporteur Gulnara Shahinian warns that severing the past nexus with the Republic of Armenia volition spell annihilation for Karabakh Armenians. "You cognize what level of quality rights violations hap successful Azerbaijan. With their full hatred policy, however could you expect that determination would beryllium a bully cognition towards Armenians successful Karabakh?"

A abbreviated thrust from Goris, a upland panorama offers a wide presumption of the existent crisis.

On the Armenian side, thing moves on a caller roadworthy built to circumvent territory returned to Azerbaijan arsenic portion of the 2020 ceasefire agreement.

A enactment of lorries loaded with 400 tonnes of humanitarian assistance for Karabakh, including food, medicine, babe look and different essentials is parked on the attack to the Azerbaijani checkpoint.

Remembering the 1 happening Hayk's parent misses astir is cooking oil, I inquire a lorry operator waiting successful Goris what helium is transporting.

"Twenty 2 tonnes of cooking oil."