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Azerbaijan marked the 100th day of the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor by the shutdown of natural gas supply to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) for the 13th time, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Thursday,

“This was preceded by the speech of the leader of Azerbaijan in the ethnically cleansed village of Talish in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is difficult to describe as anything other than aggressive. What happened in the village of Talish is a fundamental, solid proof of the ethnic cleansing and genocidal policy implemented by Azerbaijan. In that village, depopulated as a result of the 44-day war, Azerbaijan demolishes houses owned by Armenians and builds houses for Azerbaijanis instead,” he told a cabinet meeting.

“What we have been warning about for a long time is now a reality. The leadership of Azerbaijan shows its model of guaranteeing the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh or their "integration" by demolishing the houses owned by Armenians and building houses for Azerbaijanis instead of them, at the same time erasing the Armenian inscriptions on the ancient Armenian monuments and considering the issue resolved,” the premier said.

He stressed Azerbaijan’s actions are illegal and run counter to Point 7 of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, which says: "Internally displaced persons and refugees return to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent territories under the supervision of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees".

“This means that March 18 should have been marked by the return of the Armenian population to Talish and not by the act of vandalism of demolishing their homes,” Pashinyan noted.

“These actions of the leadership of Azerbaijan were followed by the statement of our compatriots who were deported from Nagorno-Karabakh and neighboring regions, who demand from the leaders of the countries that signed the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to ensure the safe and dignified return of Armenians deported from Nagorno-Karabakh and neighboring regions to their historic lands and former settlements, in accordance with the obligations assumed in the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, human rights and humanitarian law.

“As one of the addressees of the mentioned statement, I want to clearly emphasize that I consider the mentioned demand fair, and the Government of the Republic of Armenia should take all political and diplomatic measures to protect the rights of the authors and beneficiaries of the statement,” he said.