UN Security Council to discuss Karabakh issue in New York on Aug 16

A meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) at Armenia's appeal to discuss the situation in Karabakh will be held at 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) in New York, the US, on August 16.

"The meeting on Armenia's request will be held at 15:00 on August 16," Caliber.Az reports, citing the US Permanent Mission to the UN.

The US is chairing the UNSC in August and is forming a work programme.

According to Armenian media, Armenian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ani Badalyan said on a social network that Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will leave for New York for the UNSC meeting on Karabakh.

Despite its first failure in December 2022, Armenia once again attempts to instrumentalise the UN Security Council for its political, military and informational manipulation campaign. 

Armenia’s appeal to the Security Council on groundless allegations of “worsening humanitarian situation” and “continued blockade” in the region yet again comes at a time when Armenia itself deliberately and intentionally obstructs all the efforts made through international partners to find a balanced, law-based and reasonable solution on the ground.

As it is well-known, wide-range abuse of the Lachin road by Armenia over the past three years necessitated Azerbaijan’s legitimate and legal action of establishing a border checkpoint to ensure security and order on its border. While Armenia attempted to portray these efforts as a “blockade” and requested the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue an order on the removal of the checkpoint, the ICJ unanimously rejected this request in its order of July 6. 

Armenia did not reconcile with the reality of being deprived of the means to supply and sustain its incompletely withdrawn armed forces in the territory of Azerbaijan and to illicitly extract Azerbaijan’s natural resources. Therefore, Armenia has started a propaganda campaign worldwide, imposed a series of military and other obstructions for the normal functioning of the border checkpoint, as well as for the use of other routes, such as the Aghdam-Khankandi road for the delivery of goods to the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

Following the 2020 war, Azerbaijan offered peace to Armenia based on equal and reciprocal respect for the legitimate interests of both sides through mutual recognition of and respect for each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders. On another track, Azerbaijan pursues the policy of reintegration of ethnic Armenian residents of the Karabakh region as equal citizens guaranteeing all the rights and freedoms envisaged in the Constitution of Azerbaijan and all relevant international human rights mechanisms to which Azerbaijan is a signatory.

At this critical juncture, sober apprehension of existing risks and adequate response by the international community to Armenia’s brazen provocations are more necessary than ever to overcome the challenges facing the inter-state Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process and the reintegration of local ethnic Armenian residents into Azerbaijan’s political, legal and socio-economic framework. 

 It is important to ensure that the historic opportunity for durable peace is not missed.