Thousands protest in Karabakh against the Azerbaijani blockade

Thousands of people gathered in Stepanakert yesterday, demanding that Azerbaijan unblock the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

Karabakh political leaders, who organized the rally, addressed the crowd in the city's central square on the 14th day of a road blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, medicine and other basic goods in the Armenian-populated region.

They appealed to the international community for immediate intervention because they are faced with what they see as Azerbaijani efforts to "drive the Karabakh Armenians out of their homeland," Radio Free Europe's Armenian Service reported.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been arguing over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. The mostly ethnic Armenian enclave is part of Azerbaijan, but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the separatist war there ended in 1994.

Ruben Vardanian, the de facto prime minister of Karabakh, said the local population was left with three options.

"First we obey and sooner or later integrate into Azerbaijan," Vardanian said in a speech. "Two, let's get out of here. Three, let's fight."

"I made the decision on September 2," he said, referring to the date of his move from Armenia to Karabakh.

"I'm here, I'm fighting and I won't leave or listen to Azerbaijan's terms."

The Karabakh protest came as a result of what appeared to be increasing international pressure on Azerbaijan.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Baku to "allow free movement through the Lachin Corridor" when he phoned his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on December 23.

According to the French interpretation of the call, Aliyev expressed his "intention" to do so.

However, Aliyev's media office quoted him as defending the Azerbaijanis who closed the corridor on December 12 "for environmental reasons". He is said to have told Macron that they were right to protest against "illegal" mining activities in Karabakh.

A road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia was blocked by a group of Azerbaijani protesters demanding that Baku be allowed to inspect Karabakh mines, drawing attention to what Azerbaijan calls illegal mining in Nagorno-Karabakh and the use of the road to transport minerals to Armenia.

Authorities in Yerevan and Stepanakert denounced the blockade as a violation of a 2020 ceasefire agreement that placed the Lachin Corridor under the control of Russian peacekeepers.

On December 23, Aliyev had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin did not mention the blockade in the statement.

Speaking in Baku on December 24, Aliyev said he would not bow to international pressure. "No one can influence us," he said.

Meanwhile, on December 24, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borelj, called the Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jeyhun Bajramov, for the second time in three days.

Borelj later wrote on Twitter that they discussed "the need for freedom of movement and humanitarian access through the Lacin corridor."

He described the conversation as "constructive".