But the “humanitarian crisis” hysterics have a historical background, says Farid Shafiyev, Chairman of the Board of the Center of Analysis of International Relations.
Lachin was the first district outside the former NKAO to be occupied by Armenia, the expert said. To this day, the Lachin road is of strategic importance to Armenians. They used this road to arm their gangs and to occupy Kalbajar and other districts of Azerbaijan from both Armenia and Lachin in 1992. This is the road of “miatsum”: the coveted unification of the Karabakh region with Armenia. According to Shafiyev, this is why Armenians are putting on a show today to prove that hunger and other troubles allegedly await them because of the environmentalists’ protests.
“Apart from environmental problems, the Azerbaijani public protests against this road being used for non-humanitarian purposes. This is the reason why Armenians are so concerned about the current situation. Weapons are brought into Azerbaijan via the Lachin road for non-humanitarian purposes, natural resources belonging to our country are taken out of Azerbaijan via this road, and the proceeds from their sale are used to finance the separatist project.
“In the current situation, Azerbaijan acts within the borders of its internationally recognized territory, and there can be no complaints against it. The Armenians are trying to wrest Lachin from under Azerbaijan’s sovereignty through some international organizations. But these attempts are doomed to fail. This is the territory of Azerbaijan, secured by international law, and no mission, of neither UN nor OSCE, will be able to carry out monitoring activities without the permission of the Azerbaijani side,” Farid Shafiyev said.
Leyla Tariverdiyeva
Translated from Day.az
