Nagorno-Karabakh: US Lawmakers Call for End of Azerbaijan's Blockade

Facts

• A group of US Congressional lawmakers called on Azerbaijan to end the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh as the area remains cut off from critical supplies for a 53rd day. Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) joined protestors at the Capitol on Thursday urging the US to hold Azerbaijan accountable.
• Azerbaijan and neighboring Amenia are in a dispute over a four-mile road, called the Lachin Corridor, which connects the two countries in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azeri protesters have been allegedly blocking the road since mid-December, threatening food supplies to the 120K people in the region.
• Armenia told the International Court of Justice on Monday that Azerbaijan’s blockade of the corridor was designed to allow “ethnic cleansing” of the area. At the hearing, Armenia requested the Court, also known as the "World Court," to order Azerbaijan to lift the blockade.
• Azerbaijan has denied any blockade instead insisting that environmental activists are conducting a legitimate protest. However, officials in the region have begun to institute a rationing system for dwindling food and supplies.
• Last week, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) held a press conference along with the Armenian National Committee of America and advocacy group In Defense of Christians demanding immediate action on Azerbaijan’s “brutal blockade.”
• The conflict comes just two years after Azerbaijan and Armenia ended a war that killed roughly 6.8K soldiers and displaced about 90K civilians. Tensions have remained high between the two nations.

Sources: Axios, PBS NewsHour, Reuters, and Congressman Brad Sherman.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by The Armenian Weekly. The international community is right to condemn Azerbaijan’s cruel blockade. Starting from Since Dec. 12, 2022, Azerbaijan’s government began this operation designed to deprive the 120K Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh of food, gas, and medicine. This is a tragic abuse of human rights, and Azerbaijan’s blockade must end immediately.
• Narrative B, as provided by Aze.Media.Armenia is manipulating the emotions of the world trying to represent a legitimate and peaceful environmental protest as somehow an "inhumane blockade." On Feb.1 alone, over 1,200 cars passed through the Lachin corridor in both directions. This issue is being misrepresented to the world and US lawmakers.