The worsening humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh was high on the agenda of their phone call reported by the Armenian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday. According to the ministry’s readout of the call, Mirzoyan “stressed the need for international actors, including the EU, to take concrete steps” towards the lifting of the nine-month Azerbaijani blockade.
“While highly appreciating targeted messages sent by partners to date, Minister Mirzoyan pointed out that unfortunately they are not enough to achieve positive change on the ground, end the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh and bring Azerbaijan back to the constructive path,” added the statement.
Like the United States and Russia, the EU has repeatedly urged Azerbaijan to lift the blockade. The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, warned on Wednesday that Baku’s failure to heed these appeals could damage its relations with the 27-nation bloc.
Still, Borrell made clear that the EU is not considering suspending a July 2022 memorandum of understanding on doubling Europe’s imports of Azerbaijani natural gas by 2027. The document was signed in Baku in the presence of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She described Azerbaijan as a “key partner in our efforts to move away from Russian fossil fuels.”
The head of the EU’s top decision-making body, Charles Michel, called late last week for “courageous compromise solutions” to the crisis in Karabakh that would include a new supply route controlled by Azerbaijan. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared to back such a solution in a September 1 phone call with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev which was revealed by the U.S. State Department five days later.
“He reiterated our call to reopen the Lachin Corridor to humanitarian, commercial, and passenger traffic, while recognizing the importance of additional routes from Azerbaijan,” the department said in a statement.
Despite struggling with severe shortages of food, medicine and other basic necessities, most residents of Karabakh remain strongly opposed to the alternative supply line which Baku has set as a precondition for allowing renewed relief supplies through Karabakh’s land link with Armenia. They believe that it is aimed at legitimizing the blockade and helping Azerbaijan regain full control over Karabakh.