Editor TLN
1 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, has shown his “deep concern” at the establishment of a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan, arguing that this action “undermines efforts to restore confidence in the peace process”.
Blinken spoke this Sunday with the Azeri president, Ilham Aliyev, to whom he expressed his concern, stressing the importance of reopening the Lachín corridor to commercial and private vehicles as soon as possible.
Thus, the Secretary of State has conveyed “the importance of the peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia”, promising Washington’s “continued support”, as reported by Blinken’s spokesman, Matthew Miller.
This call came after Blinken spoke with the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, to thank him for his “continued commitment” to the peace process, stressing that “direct dialogue and diplomacy are the only path to lasting peace in the southern Caucasus”.
A week ago, the Azeri Border Guard announced the installation of a “border post” in the Lachin corridor in response to the “transportation of Armenian personnel, ammunition, mines and other military equipment to illegal Armenian armed groups in Azerbaijan,” accusations rejected by Yerevan.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry, after learning of the existence of this “post”, asked Russia to carry out its work as a guarantor of peace and demand the withdrawal of this installation for going beyond “provocation” to become “a flagrant violation “of one of the fundamental provisions of the ceasefire.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been involved in various confrontations in recent years, the last in 2020, over the control of Nagorno Karabakh, a territory with a majority Armenian population that has been a focus of conflict since it decided to separate in 1988 from the Azerbaijan region integrated into the Soviet Union.
