Azerbaijan stops Mayor of Paris' humanitarian convoy to Nagorno-Karabakh, denies blockade again
Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, led a convoy of humanitarian aid for residents of Nagorno-Karabakh <Armenians call the region Artsakh - The Insider> on August 30. Ten trucks carrying food, power generators, and solar panels reached the Lachin Corridor, which connects the region to Armenia, but were prevented from going any further by the Azerbaijani military. “Here at the Lachin Corridor, we testify that no humanitarian aid can enter Artsakh, in total violation of human rights,” Hidalgo reported.
The column was accompanied by about 15 elected officials from French cities and regions, including Marseille, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Occitanie. Following the visit, the politicians asked French President Emmanuel Macron to submit a resolution to the UN Security Council demanding that the Lachin Corridor be opened and placed under international protection. During Hidalgo's press conference in the Armenian city of Goris, she condemned the Azerbaijani regime's actions toward the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh as genocide and ethnic cleansing. On August 31, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported handing a note of protest to French Ambassador Anne Bouillon, in which Baku defined the attempt to deliver humanitarian cargo to the area of an ongoing humanitarian disaster as a “provocation”.
Against the backdrop of these events, Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan, who has headed the unrecognized republic since 2020, announced his resignation. According to Harutyunyan, this was a forced decision due to the decline in people's confidence in the regional government and him as a leader. Before his resignation, Harutyunyan dismissed Minister of State Gurgen Nersisyan, appointing Samvel Shahramanyan, who had previously served as the Security Council Secretary, in his stead. National Assembly Speaker David Ishkhanyan will act as the President of Nagorno-Karabakh. The next president will be elected by the parliament of the unrecognized republic.
The Azerbaijani authorities, which are continuing to block the Lachin Corridor, claim that goods can be delivered to Nagorno-Karabakh via the road from Aghdam to Stepanakert. On August 29, two trucks allegedly carrying flour were brought from the Azerbaijani side. Ilham Aliyev's aide Hikmet Hajiyev announced the Lachin Corridor will be opened if the road through Aghdam is opened first.