The Armenian National Assembly, at its emergency session on Wednesday, unanimously adopted a statement on the situation after the blockade of the Lachin corridor by the enemy Azerbaijan with 57 votes in favor. The draft statement was prepared by the parliamentary majority. The parliamentary opposition decided to boycott the sitting due to the rejection of the alternative draft statement prepared by the National Assembly Council.          

Earlier Hayk Konjoryan, the leader of the ruling Civil Contract Party in Armenia, read out a draft statement "On the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno Karabakh caused by the Azerbaijani actions".

The statement, adopted by Armenia's highest body of state power, reads in part:

"On the morning of December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan illegally blocked the Lachin corridor connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh. Once again, by grossly violating the provisions of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020 of the Prime Minister of Armenia, the President of Azerbaijan and the President of the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan aims to cut Nagorno-Karabakh off from the outside world.

In order to prepare for the provocation, Azerbaijan has been creating propagandistic false pretexts for a long time. As a result of this highly provocative and explosive activity, the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh are actually deprived of their right to free movement. Thousands of people, including children, are trapped on frozen roads and many families are involuntarily separated on opposite sides of the blockade.

Citizens with serious health problems are deprived of medicine and medical services. Supplies of food and other basic necessities are disrupted. 120,000 people are effectively being held hostage during the siege.

To aggravate the provocative and inhumane actions, on the evening of December 13, Azerbaijan blocked the valve of the gas pipeline supplying natural gas to Nagorno-Karabakh, which it installed after blowing up the gas pipeline on March 7, 2022.

Under the circumstances, the schools and kindergartens heated by natural gas were forced to stop their work and, as a result, some 22,000 children were deprived of their right to education.

As a result of the aforementioned actions of Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh is threatened with a humanitarian catastrophe. Fundamental human rights and freedoms are violated and the security of the Karabakh Armenians is under direct threat. All this is just another proof of Azerbaijan's policy of genocide against Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Periodic ceasefire violations and provocations by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces on the line of contact with Nagorno-Karabakh make the threat to the existence of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh more tangible.

By blocking the Lachin corridor, Azerbaijan directly violates the provisions of the statement of November 9, 2020, according to which: The Lachin corridor is under the control of Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh; Azerbaijan guarantees the safety of movement of citizens, vehicles and cargoes through the Lachin corridor.

Based on the current situation, we call on the Russian Federation to take the necessary actions to ensure full implementation of the provisions of the tripartite statement of 9 November 2020 in the zone of control of the Russian peacekeeping forces.

We call on the international community to strongly and directly condemn the actions of Azerbaijan and take measures to prevent a possible humanitarian catastrophe in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In the current situation, it is imperative to launch or restart international mechanisms to ensure the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

We urge the members of the UN Security Council and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as well as the member states of the above-mentioned organizations, to send a fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh in order to monitor the humanitarian situation.