The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a judgment on Wednesday, February 22, asked Azerbaijan to guarantee free passage of goods and people through the Lachin Corridor linking Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
Disposing of complaints filed by Armenia against Azerbaijan and vice-versa earlier this year, the court in a 13-2 majority verdict asked Azerbaijan to “take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions,” AP reported.
In December, hundreds of Azerbaijani protesters began camping at the Lachin Corridor to oppose what they claimed was illegal mining of gold and other mineral resources in Nagorno Karabakh by Armenia. The protesters claimed that Armenian mining was harming the region’s environment.
The court agreed with the Armenian claim that the road blockade hampered the movement of people, particularly medical patients, from Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia, as well as the movement of goods including medicines and food supplies.
However, the court rejected Armenia’s plea that Azerbaijan end its support to all the protests in the region and resume supplies of natural gas to Nagorno Karabakh, claiming there was insufficient proof that Azerbaijan was involved in these activities.
Armenia had raised the issue and accused Azerbaijan of supporting the blockade. However, Azerbaijan has denied any links with the protesters. It has also refuted the Armenian claim that the protesters are causing a complete blockade of supplies of essential commodities to Nagorno Karabakh.
After the ICJ verdict on Wednesday, Azerbaijan issued a statement claiming that it has always undertaken steps to guarantee safe movement along the Lachin Corridor, AP reported.
Nagorno Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. However, ethnic Armenians, who constitute the majority population in the region, had declared themselves a part of Armenia in 1988, when both Armenia and Azerbaijan were parts of the Soviet Union (USSR), and drove out most of the Azeri population during the war in 1994.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars (1994 and 2020) over the territory since the dissolution of the USSR. In the last war, more than 6,500 people were killed, but Azerbaijan made significant territorial gains. A ceasefire was achieved following mediation by Russia, which also deployed a peace keeping force in the region.
