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The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) on Tuesday issued a statement on the ongoing Azerbaijani blockade of the sole road connecting Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to Armenia and the outside world.

For nearly two weeks, large groups of Azerbaijanis posing as eco-activists have blocked the road, known as the Lachin corridor, to protest what they claim is illegal mining.

The full text of the AGMI statement follows:

"Since December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan has blocked the only road connecting the Republic of Artsakh to the world. Despite the various pretenses put forward by Azerbaijan, the strategic goal is to force the population of the Republic of Artsakh to leave its historical homeland. Here, Azerbaijan is guided by the same plan - that is to gradually turn Artsakh into Nakhichevan: there are no Armenians - there are no problems. At the same time, Azerbaijan will obviously not be satisfied with the depopulation of Artsakh. After the second Artsakh war in 2020, the public statements made by the military and political leadership of Azerbaijan clearly testify about its territorial ambitions towards the Republic of Armenia, including the capital Yerevan.

The military-political leadership of Azerbaijan is excited about the growing importance of Azerbaijan’s role due to the latest geopolitical developments, including the growing opportunities to export Turkmen gas to international markets through the territory of Azerbaijan. Perhaps in Baku, they believe that geopolitical and geo-economic interests will make the world turn a blind eye on the implementation of genocidal actions against the Armenians of Artsakh and the unleashing of new aggression against the Republic of Armenia.

However, the last hundred years have definitely showed that the perpetrators of genocide and genocidal acts did not go unpunished. We are sure, that the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan will also face punishment for the committed crimes and also those planned against the Armenian nation, and the Armenians of the Artsakh Republic will continue to live and work in their historical homeland, despite the existing ineffable difficulties they suffer."