Thousands Rally In Karabakh Against Azerbaijani Blockade
Protesters rally in a central square of Stepanakert on December 25.
Thousands of people rallied in Stepanakert on December 25 to demand that Azerbaijan unblock the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.
Karabakh’s political leaders, who organized the rally, struck a defiant note as they addressed the crowd that gathered in the city’s central square on the 14th day of the road blockade that has led to serious shortages of food, medicines, and other basic goods in the Armenian-populated region.
They appealed to the international community for urgent intervention in the face of what they see as Azerbaijani efforts to drive Karabakh Armenians out of their homeland.
Ruben Vardanian, Karabakh’s de facto premier, said the local population has been left with three options.
“First, we submit and sooner or later integrate into Azerbaijan,” Vardanian said in a speech. “Second, we get out of here. Third, we fight.”
“I made my decision on September 2,” he said, referring to the date of his relocation from Armenia to Karabakh. “I’m here, I’m fighting, and I’m not going to leave or obey Azerbaijan’s conditions.”
Inside Stepanakert As Azerbaijani Blockade Continues
1/12This December 20 image shows stalls, which were recently piled high with fruit, now lying empty in the central market of Stepanakert, a city known as Xankendi in Azeri.
A local photojournalist details life inside Nagorno-Karabakh as provisions begin to run out and Azerbaijani "environmentalists" continue a blockade of the only supply road into the breakaway region.
2/12Empty fruit and vegetable boxes outside a store on December 19.
Stepanakert is the largest city in Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Approximately 100,000 ethnic Armenians are currently stuck in the territory, and vital supplies are unable to be imported due to Azerbaijani activists blocking the only road in from Armenia.
A local photojournalist details life inside Nagorno-Karabakh as provisions begin to run out and Azerbaijani "environmentalists" continue a blockade of the only supply road into the breakaway region.
3/12Russian peacekeepers face Azerbaijanis blocking the highway connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia on December 13. (Photo by Azertac)
Spontaneous protests are routinely broken up within minutes by police in Azerbaijan, and many have accused Baku of staging the Lachin protest to put pressure on Yerevan and Karabakh Armenians.
A local photojournalist details life inside Nagorno-Karabakh as provisions begin to run out and Azerbaijani "environmentalists" continue a blockade of the only supply road into the breakaway region.
4/12A street in the center of Stepanakert.
Marut Vanian, a local journalist and photographer in Stepanakert, has been posting regular updates from his blockaded city. He says the situation became especially tense between December 13 and December 16 when the gas supply to Stepanakert was cut off amid freezing weather, leading to schools, kindergartens, and other facilities shutting down.
A local photojournalist details life inside Nagorno-Karabakh as provisions begin to run out and Azerbaijani "environmentalists" continue a blockade of the only supply road into the breakaway region.
A local photojournalist details life inside Nagorno-Karabakh as provisions begin to run out and Azerbaijani "environmentalists" continue a blockade of the only supply road into the breakaway region.
6/12Lida Mikayelian portions dough in a bakery in Stepanakert.
The baker told photographer Vanian: “There is still bread, thank God, but there are no vegetables at all.” The 87-year-old said the Russian peacekeepers tasked with protecting the Lachin Corridor have become increasingly toothless as Russia’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine grinds on.
“Azerbaijan is using this moment to advance its plans,” Mikayelian said, adding, “Russia is not able to maintain our security, but at the same time, it doesn’t want to ‘lose’ us. This is the situation.”
A local photojournalist details life inside Nagorno-Karabakh as provisions begin to run out and Azerbaijani "environmentalists" continue a blockade of the only supply road into the breakaway region.
7/12The flag of Nagorno-Karabakh seen on a house in Stepanakert.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh since Armenia-backed separatists captured the mountainous territory, populated by ethnic Armenians, in the 1990s. Nagorno-Karabakh today is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
A local photojournalist details life inside Nagorno-Karabakh as provisions begin to run out and Azerbaijani "environmentalists" continue a blockade of the only supply road into the breakaway region.
8/12An ATM in the center of Stepanakert.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov claimed on December 15 that Karabakh Armenians had “no problems with food or medicines,” adding that Azerbaijan is “ready to provide any humanitarian assistance.” He blamed the recent gas outage on cold weather and mountainous terrain.
A local photojournalist details life inside Nagorno-Karabakh as provisions begin to run out and Azerbaijani "environmentalists" continue a blockade of the only supply road into the breakaway region.
9/12A view of central Stepanakert on December 20.
A severely ill hospital patient was evacuated out of Nagorno-Karabakhand through the Lachin blockade for emergency open-heart surgery in Yerevan on December 19.
A local photojournalist details life inside Nagorno-Karabakh as provisions begin to run out and Azerbaijani "environmentalists" continue a blockade of the only supply road into the breakaway region.
10/12Smoke rises from houses in Stepanakert on December 19.
As the blockade continues, some locals are continuing to use firewood to heat their homes due to its low cost. Local authorities have urged residents to reduce electricity usage amid fears vital electrical supply cables that run through Azerbaijani-held territory could be cut.
A local photojournalist details life inside Nagorno-Karabakh as provisions begin to run out and Azerbaijani "environmentalists" continue a blockade of the only supply road into the breakaway region.
11/12Graffiti next to empty produce boxes.
Some locals joked to Vanian that, if the blockade continued, potatoes would soon be listed on the exchange boards alongside dollars and euros.
A local photojournalist details life inside Nagorno-Karabakh as provisions begin to run out and Azerbaijani "environmentalists" continue a blockade of the only supply road into the breakaway region.
12/12Empty produce boxes near a bus stop in central Stepanakert.
For many residents, the ongoing blockade is hard to joke about. Stepanakert mother Anna Muradian is one of around 1,100 people now locked out of her home city after visiting her soldier husband’s grave in Yerevan. He was killed in the 2020 conflict with Azerbaijan.
“On the one hand, [my children] pine for their father. It’s suffocating for them” Muradian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. On the other hand, she says that, due to the blockade, her youngest son now “misses his mother,” too.
A local photojournalist details life inside Nagorno-Karabakh as provisions begin to run out and Azerbaijani "environmentalists" continue a blockade of the only supply road into the breakaway region.
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The Karabakh protest came amid what appears to be growing international pressure exerted on Azerbaijan.
French President Emmanuel Macron urged Baku to “allow free movement along the Lachin Corridor” when he phoned his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, on December 23. According to the French readout of the call, Aliyev expressed his “intention” to do so.
However, Aliyev’s press office quoted him as defending the Azerbaijanis who closed the corridor on December 12 ostensibly on environmental grounds. It said he told Macron that they are right to protest against “illegal” mining activities in Karabakh.
The road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia was blocked by a group of Azerbaijani protesters demanding that Baku be allowed to inspect Karabakh ore mines, calling attention to what Azerbaijan says is illegal mining in Nagorno-Karabakh and the use of the road to transport the minerals to Armenia.
The authorities in Yerevan and Stepanakert have condemned the blockade as a violation of the 2020 cease-fire agreement that placed the Lachin Corridor under the control of Russian peacekeepers.
Aliyev also spoke on December 23 by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin’s readout of the call made no mention of the blockade.
Speaking in Baku on December 24, Aliyev said he would not bow to the international pressure. “Nobody can influence us,” he said.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, phoned Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov on December 24 for the second time in three days. Borrell later tweeted that they discussed “the need for freedom of movement and humanitarian access through the Lachin Corridor.” He described the conversation as “constructive.”
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, operating out of a bureau in Yerevan, is a leading source of trusted reporting and technical innovation, reaching outsized audiences when developments demand authoritative, up-to-the-minute news most.
![Empty produce boxes near a bus stop in central Stepanakert. <br />
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For many residents, the ongoing blockade is hard to joke about. Stepanakert mother Anna Muradian is one of around 1,100 people now locked out of her home city after visiting her soldier husband’s grave in Yerevan. He was killed in the 2020 conflict with Azerbaijan.<br />
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“On the one hand, [my children] pine for their father. It’s suffocating for them” <strong><a href="https://www.azatutyun.am/a/32184450.html">Muradian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service</a>. </strong>On the other hand, she says that, due to the blockade, her youngest son now “misses his mother,” too.](https://gdb.rferl.org/058a0000-0aff-0242-7346-08dae2a838cb_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
