Karabakh Armenians held hostage by separatist clique But world stays blind

Over the past few months, the remnants of the Armenian gangs have increased activity in the zone of temporary responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent. Azerbaijan has repeatedly recorded the smuggling of weapons, military equipment and personnel into its territory, as well as engineering work to strengthen positions.

In addition, training drills and other provocative actions were carried out right under the noses of the peacekeepers in the camps of Armenian militants.

Additionally, on May 26 at the Azerbaijani-Armenian conditional border near Zangilan’s Razdyar village, Azerbaijani border guards prevented the attempt of a subversive and reconnaissance group of Armenian armed forces to violate the state border. The servicemen timely detected the group and detained two saboteurs.

All of this goes to show that the Armenian separatists are intensively preparing for large-scale provocations, trying to involve the civilian population, even women and children in it, in the zone of temporary responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh.

Meanwhile, the Armenians living in Karabakh witnessed the 44-day war and today they have no desire to be in the epicentre of hostilities again.

Randomly generated pseudo-patriotic slogans by a handful of separatists no longer affect civilians. They understand that the Harutyunyan and Co. gang seeks to leave the civilian population to fend for itself and turn them into cannon fodder to preserve the stolen wealth.

It is this sad occasion that explains the attempts of Karabakh Armenians to move to Armenia or even further. However, recently the separatist regime has deprived them of the opportunity to leave the territory of Azerbaijan. Moreover, they cannot even get to the Lachin checkpoint established by Baku.

In early April, the leadership of the Karabakh separatists imposed severe restrictions on leaving the temporary deployment zone of the Russian peacekeepers. Today, it is possible to leave Karabakh only in case of “extraordinary necessity”.  Expectedly, the degree of necessity is determined according to criteria established without taking into account the opinion of the population.

The leaders of the gangs, flaunting loud statements about the protection of the population, decided to keep the population hostage to their interests. Now the Armenians of Karabakh can leave the territory of Azerbaijan only with the permission of Harutyunyan's gang and the peacekeepers’ command.

"From now on, it will be possible to enter Armenia from Karabakh only in case of emergency [death of a relative in Armenia, funeral, serious illness of a family member, surgical intervention, etc.]," the so-called " Artsakh state minister" Gurgen Nersisyan said.

Thus, the vast majority of Armenians living in Karabakh are kept locked up. However, the number of those who want to get rid of the power of bandits by leaving Karabakh is growing every day.

It would seem that the illegal actions of the illegitimate regime are a good enough reason for the appropriate reaction of specialised international structures, but, noticeably, the biased foreign "observers" can only be indignant about the installation of the Azerbaijani checkpoints in Lachin and continue to traditionally ignore the real arbitrariness on the ground.

Armenians living in Karabakh are practically being held hostage by a pack of impostors, who in turn thoughtlessly continue their dangerous game of "self-determination" and "independence”.

It is noteworthy that this blatant violation of human rights is taking place in the zone of temporary responsibility of Russian peacekeepers. The Armenian population of Karabakh is unceremoniously restricted in their right to change their place of residence, even for security reasons, since both the separatist leaders and the peacekeepers are interested in maintaining the improvised ghetto.

Despite constant and unfounded accusations by Armenia of Azerbaijan’s “blockade" on the Lachin road, it is evident that all the necessary conditions have been created at the checkpoint to ensure an unhindered passage.

Baku is not interested and does not intend to drive the Armenian population out of Karabakh, but no one is going to keep them there by force either.

Azerbaijan's position on this issue is very clear and absolutely righteous. Baku has repeatedly stated at the highest level that the Armenians living in Karabakh are given a free choice within two possible options - to accept Azerbaijan’s citizenship or leave the territory of the country.

From the point of view of international legal norms, it is the simplest and at the same time flawless scheme, regardless of anyone's attempts to interpret the reality in a different way. And Azerbaijan will take measures, within the framework of the fight against separatism, based solely on this reality.