News - Stepanakert: Roads not opened in Karabakh, it’s only about passage of 2 trucks with humanitarian aid

By Mariam Levina Talking about opening a road is wrong. David Babayan, Advisor to the President of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), said this, commenting—at the request of Armenian News-NEWS.am—on the Azerbaijani media reports about the simultaneous opening of the Berdzor (Lachin) corridor and the Akna (Aghdam)-Stepanakert motorway. "We see that certain speculations have started that ‘the roads are open’ and from both sides; both in the Azerbaijani and intra-Armenian media space. The roads are not open; it’s just that huge humanitarian loads have accumulated in the Lachin-Berdzor corridor, the population of Artsakh is literally starving to death. It was necessary to somehow, at least a small ‘drop’ of aid, flour, first of all, to be delivered to Artsakh. Humanitarian cargoes of the ICRC have been deployed in Barda [town of Azerbaijan]. The vehicle was loaded with Swiss, Spanish and Russian products—mainly hygiene items and medicines. An agreement has been reached to pass this vehicle through Akna (Aghdam). The driver is not Azerbaijani, the vehicle is not Azerbaijani, the license plates are not Azerbaijani, and the goods are not Azerbaijani either, in order to allow 20 tons of flour to be transported from Goris [city of Armenia] to starving Artsakh; this is a ‘drop’ in the ‘ocean’ of suffering," Babayan said. "Now, many people outside Artsakh express views without knowing what hunger is; and for God's sake, let them never know. But the point is that we have to assess the situation as it really is. The Goris flour is Armenian; and there can be no Azerbaijani product there. Now say, what shall we do? Facebook ‘knights’ [are] fighting virtually, showing their patriotism virtually. Our people are proud, so we do not accept any goods of Azerbaijani production. We are part of this nation, we cannot do otherwise. The people [in Artsakh] are really starving to death, small children, old people, sick people. Young and middle-aged people can somehow cope, but what about children, the elderly, the sick. Young and middle-aged people can somehow cope, but what to do with children, the elderly, and the sick? Shouldn't we import flour from Armenia in order for someone on Facebook to think of themselves as a ‘hero?’ Therefore, we must understand the situation and know that even in this difficult situation we do not violate our principles, ideals, ideas, national pride," he noted. "But the road is not open; one truck went from Akna to Askeran, the other—from Goris; that's all," added David Babayan.