Nagorno-Karabakh Blockade: Desperate Armenians Pile Food In Front Of UN

Protesters march near the Yerevan headquarters of the United Nations in Armenia on July 24.

One woman holds a sign calling for the UN to "immediately send humanitarian cargo" to Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Fencing outside the UN headquarters in Yerevan covered with posters on July 24, including recent images from inside Nagorno-Karabakh, where two children died recently after their single mother left them alone to source food supplies. Armenians refer to Nagorno-Karabakh as Artsakh.

 

An empty supermarket in Stepanakert, the largest city of Nagorno-Karabakh, photographed on July 18.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region of Azerbaijan that is populated primarily by ethnic Armenians, has been under blockade by Baku since December 2022. From mid-June, Azerbaijan has apparently prevented all supplies entering the territory from Armenia.

Piles of food placed outside the UN headquarters by protesters in Yerevan. Speakers at the July 24 demonstration called for the international organization to transport supplies into Nagorno-Karabakh.

Aram Vardanian, who attended the protest outside the UN house on July 24, told RFE/RL that the organization is being singled out because “wherever there is a shortage of food, the UN has always tried to deliver humanitarian aid.”

Piles of food outside the UN building in Yerevan.

Vardanian adds, “It doesn’t even matter the political debates surrounding this specific territory, if there are people in need and they lack basic items like sugar or salt, it’s been the UN’s responsibility for decades to create a system of delivery.”

Food placed outside the UN headquarters in Yerevan.

RFE/RL requested comment by e-mail from the UN late on July 23 and early on July 24. A spokesperson responded that the request was made too late for a response before publication. Calls to the organization went to an automated answering system and were then cut off. 
 

A protest in central Yerevan on July 21 calling for an end to the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Several mass protests have been held in Armenia over recent days as the conditions inside Nagorno-Karabakh have dramatically worsened. Marut Vanian, a journalist inside Stepenakert, told RFE/RL on July 23 that the situation is “just getting worse day by day.”

A woman looks in the direction of Nagorno-Karabakh from a checkpoint near the southern Armenian village of Kornidzor on July 23. 

In a recent interview, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian likened the Nagorno-Karabakh blockade to an ethnic "ghetto" of the kind created by Nazi forces during World War II.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, in a recent address, said that if Armenia "completely renounces any kind of encroachment on the territory of Azerbaijan," a peace treaty will be possible before the end of 2023.