Armenia asks the UN for an urgent meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia has asked the United Nations (UN) Security Council to hold an urgent meeting regarding the worsening humanitarian situation in Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is mostly populated by Armenians.

In his letter to the President of the Security Council dated August 11, Armenian Ambassador to the UN Mher Margarian said that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh "are on the verge of a complete humanitarian disaster", reports Radio Free Europe.

Both Armenia and the separatist authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh have said Azerbaijan has blockaded Nagorno-Karabakh since December, resulting in shortages of food, medicine and energy.

Tensions further escalated after Azerbaijan tightened its blockade in June at a checkpoint set up in April on a road known as the Lachin Corridor, the only link between Armenia and the breakaway region, claiming that Red Cross vehicles had detected "various types of contraband coming from Armenia ".

Referring to the blockade, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on August 11 that the ban on the delivery of humanitarian aid amounted to "genocide".

Pashinyan also warned Azerbaijan against what he called "the undoing of a historic opportunity for peace" between the two South Caucasian nations.

Azerbaijan denies the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh and offers an alternative supply route through the Baku-controlled city of Agdam, located east of the region.

However, Nagorno-Karabakh's separatist government rejected the offer, saying Azerbaijan's blockade of the Lachin Corridor was a violation of the Moscow-brokered 2020 ceasefire agreement that placed a 5-kilometer-wide strip of country under the control of Russian peacekeepers.

A group of UN experts issued a statement on August 7, expressing dismay at Azerbaijan's ongoing blockade of the Lachin Corridor, which they said has led to a dire humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"By lifting the blockade, the (Azerbaijani) authorities can alleviate the suffering of thousands of people in Nagorno-Karabakh and enable the unhindered flow of humanitarian aid to the civilian population," experts said.

"It is necessary to ensure the safety, dignity and well-being of all individuals in this critical time."