The population of Artsakh has been under blockade for more than 7 months now. The only road connecting Armenia to Artsakh-Lachin corridor is blocked. The situation is deteriorating as Azerbaijan has cut off all shipments of food, fuel and all other indispensable supplies to the Nagorno-Karabakh region. As a result of this blockade 120,000 Armenians living there face the threat of extermination.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), “Tens of thousands of people rely on humanitarian aid reaching them through these routes. The civilian population is now facing a lack of life-saving medication and essentials like hygiene products and baby formula. Fruits, vegetables, and bread are increasingly scarce and costly, while some other food items such as dairy products, sunflower oil, cereal, fish, and chicken are not available. The last time the ICRC was allowed to bring medical items and essential food items into the area was several weeks ago.”
The ongoing situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is so dire that Luis Moreno Ocampo, a leading specialist in international law, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and lecturer at Harvard and Yale Universities, claims that Azerbaijani blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh in fact constitutes genocide. He defined starvation as an invisible genocide weapon claiming that “without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks. In many respects, the starvation of the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh represents the archetype of genocide through the imposition of conditions of life designed to bring about a group’s destruction. It closes a tragic circle because “[t]he treatment of the Armenians by the Turkish rulers in 1915 provides the paradigm for the Genocide provision dealing with imposition of conditions of life.”
Azerbaijan is providing two choices: either submit to Baku’s rule, or the deprivation and suffering will continue.
In the face of this humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh it is important to analyze the response of the US authorities to this situation. The US authorities have referred to this issue starting from the second day of the blockade. As the blockade persisted for months, more and more responses followed. However, those are only statements and specific steps have not been taken.
The reactions came from the US Department of State through comments by the spokesperson during the press briefings, individual statements as well as phone calls between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Azerbaijani president. Another US body that has been quite vocal about the situation is the US Congress – predominantly members of Congressional Armenian Caucus.