A convoy of trucks, which Yerevan says is carrying aid for ethnic Armenians in the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh, has been described as a "provocation" by Baku as international humanitarian organizations call for the reopening of the Lachin Corridor, the primary road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.
Nagorno-Karabakh Crisis: Last-Ditch Armenian Aid Effort Blocked By Azerbaijan
Trucks in Yerevan filled with what Armenia says is humanitarian aid. The photo was taken on July 26, shortly before 19 trucks set off on the journey southeast toward Nagorno-Karabakh.
A view inside one of the trucks, which were reported to be carrying 360 tons of "essential food and goods," intended for Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a breakaway region of Azerbaijan that is populated primarily by ethnic Armenians. A monthslong blockade of the road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia escalated dramatically in mid-June when Azerbaijan began to stop all supplies entering the territory from Armenia.
The truck convoy stopped on a road near Nagorno-Karabakh on July 26.
The trucks reached an Azerbaijani checkpoint that was controversially set up in April on the Lachin Corridor, the main road connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh, but was prevented from driving through. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has condemned the aid convoy as a "provocation."
A rally in Yerevan held on July 25 calling for the Lachin Corridor to be opened.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on July 25 released a statement saying "despite persistent efforts, the ICRC is not currently able to bring humanitarian assistance to the civilian population through the Lachin corridor or through any other routes..."
The July 25 protest marches through a motorway tunnel in Yerevan.
The ICRC say the last time they were able to bring medicines and essential food items through Azerbaijan's blockade, "was several weeks ago."
Crowds inside blockaded Stepanakert, the largest city in Nagorno-Karabakh, watch a livestream of the Yerevan protest on July 25.
Azerbaijan has called for the disbanding of the de facto government of Nagorno-Karabakh and claims Karabakh Armenians will have the same rights as other Azerbaijani citizens. But several brutal murders of ethnic Armenians blamed on Azerbaijani soldiers inside territory retaken during the war over Nagorno-Karabakh that broke out in 2020 has left some observers fearing the worst if control of the region is handed back to Baku.
A woman calling for intervention in Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenians refer to as Artsakh.
Ararat Mirzoyan (left), Sergei Lavrov and Jeyhun Bayramov, the foreign ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, respectively, meet in Moscow on July 25.
During this July 25 meeting Moscow appeared to call for Armenia to accept Azerbaijani rule over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Protestors in Yerevan on July 25.
A regional official inside Nagorno-Karabakh told journalists that the situation is becoming increasingly severe, with "no sugar, no cooking oil, no baby food, no candy," and added, "in terms of medication, it’s a matter of days before the reserves are depleted,”