As previously reported, at the recent meeting with Michael Siebert, Managing Director of the EU External Action Service for Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia, Regional Cooperation and OSCE, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov drew the guest’s attention to Armenia’s abuse of the Lachin corridor and its use of this route to transport various kinds of weapons to the area of temporary deployment of the Russian peacekeeping forces. The minister cited the recently discovered mines manufactured in 2021 as evidence of that.
Responding to Bayramov’s statement, the Armenian pro-government Baghramyan 26 Telegram channel posted the following:
“According to which paragraph of any of the statements Artsakh has no right to transport weapons it needs for self-defense through the Lachin corridor, if, of course, it wishes to do so, and Azerbaijan has the right to set any restrictions on the use of this corridor?
Proving that these mines were extracted by Azerbaijanis from the occupied territories of Armenia (which is true), they may make it appear as if there are some agreed restrictions on the use of the Lachin corridor, which is not the case, hence any claims by Azerbaijan inherently have no legitimacy.”
Our response to the Telegram channel directly overseen by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is unlikely to please its admins, but here it is: according to Paragraph 4 of the Trilateral Statement!
Read this paragraph carefully, neighbors, and use your almost smooth brains. According to this paragraph, as the peacekeeping contingent enters the area, commonly referred to as “pouch”, the Armenian troops are supposed to be simultaneously withdrawn from that area. ALL Armenian troops, without any geographical specification, be they Armenian Armed Forces, local gangs, mercenaries, volunteers or other “gentlemen of fortune” from the Armenian diaspora. Armenia undertook the commitment to remove from the “pouch” ALL the armed individuals who had fought against Azerbaijan, not “later”, but in parallel with the introduction of the Russian peacekeeping forces. That is, the day after the surrender.
The question is, what “self-defense” weapons is Baghramyan 26 talking about? What “self-defense”? Where, in which paragraph of the Trilateral Statement does it say anything about “exceptions” to Paragraph 4? Nowhere! There should not be any armed individuals in Karabakh, except for the personnel of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, to the temporary deployment of which Baku officially gave its consent. No other armed persons should be there. None at all! Now, for whom are you moving weapons there, for what “self-defense” forces?
Weapons can go through the Lachin corridor either in the direction of the exit (although this should have been done back in November 2020), or they must belong to the Russian peacekeepers, and the Azerbaijani side must be duly notified in advance about their transportation. Any smuggling is a violation of the regime of use of the Lachin road, the safety of traffic on which Azerbaijan guarantees only in respect of “citizens, vehicles and cargoes”. Military cargo is allowed only to the Russian peacekeeping contingent in the quantity specified in the Trilateral Statement. Apart from this contingent there should be no one in the area of its temporary deployment for whom any weaponry in any quantity could be intended.
So, once again: what “self-defense” are you babbling about, neighbors? The military phase of the conflict is over, the political phase has begun, the point of which is to give you the opportunity to save the lives of the armed individuals and get them out, so to speak, in an upright position, not feet first in plastic bags. Why are your military still there? Or do you think the war is not over? If you do, just say so. We will know then that it is still going on, and there will be no Lachin corridor provided by Azerbaijan for humanitarian purposes, either. Who would keep the supply routes of enemy forces open during an unfinished war?!
If we may refresh your memory: by the end of the war the Azerbaijani soldier was already physically standing on the Lachin road. He left to give you the opportunity to safely remove the trapped Armenian forces and even weapons, as well as to let the civilians back in. He did not leave so that you could continue to move troops and weapons into Karabakh, waving the Trilateral Statement two years later, demanding to see where it “forbids” the transportation of weapons for some obscure “self-defense”!
If Yerevan almost officially acknowledges the existence of some kind of “self-defense” in the heart of Azerbaijan, it means that Armenian politicians openly, though carelessly, admit that the armed resistance is still ongoing, that they are sabotaging the implementation of the signed document and refusing to fulfill their commitments, and doing all this with the traditional Armenian “prove it!”.
No one is going to prove anything to you. The evidence is there, and you even carelessly admitted it: there are still Armenian forces (call them whatever you want!) not withdrawn from Karabakh, which continue to be supplied with weapons. The pro-Propashinyan Baghramyan 26 Telegram channel acknowledged both of these facts. It no longer matters whether these mines were deactivated in Karabakh itself or, as Pashinyan’s office claims, somewhere on the conditional border. It is pointless now for the Armenian side to make up all sorts of legends when it has already acknowledged the presence of some so-called “self-defense” forces in Karabakh and declared its “right” to supply them with weapons. Said Telegram channel’s admission alone is enough for Baku to establish the fact of Armenia’s violation of the Trilateral Statement and to set up a checkpoint on the border.
One can anticipate Armenia’s hysteria: “A checkpoint in the Lachin corridor is not mentioned in the Trilateral Statement!” It is not mentioned, but it is not forbidden either. The Statement mentions a 5-kilometer strip along the Lachin ROAD, but not the BORDER. Not a word about Azerbaijan waiving its right to protect its borders. Go through a check at the border, show that you’re a civilian, that the cargo you carry is of a humanitarian nature, and go on your way and use the 5-kilometer strip freely, under the protection of the Russian peacekeepers, too. No one will touch you. But Azerbaijan has to see who is crossing the border and what this person is carrying with them. And the Trilateral Statement does not limit this legitimate right of Azerbaijan in any way.
This means that Baku has the right to, first, set up a checkpoint on the border today, if it likes, and, second, conduct an operation to force the Armenian side to implement Paragraph 4. And this will not be a violation, but on the contrary, the implementation of the provisions of the Trilateral Statement. Just as the operation to force Armenia to comply with the 4 resolutions of the UN Security Council was carried out earlier.
The time has come. Time to put an end to this outrage.
