The European Union could do more "
to put pressure
" on Azerbaijan, which is asphyxiating the Armenians present in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, the Armenian ambassador to France estimated on Tuesday, accusing Baku of preparing "a
purge ethnic
”.
"
Azerbaijan's goal is clear to everyone, it's ethnic cleansing, it's a genocide that is in the making
," Hasmik Tolmajian declared to journalists from the French diplomatic press association.
“
Azerbaijan is starving an entire population to force them to leave the territory
,” she added.
Yerevan accuses Azerbaijani militants of blocking since mid-December a vital road - the Lachin corridor - which connects Armenia to the territories controlled by Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Call to the European diplomatic arsenal
Armenia has been warning for weeks of a "
humanitarian crisis
" as a result of the blockade, which has caused shortages of medicine and food and power cuts.
But Baku has denied these accusations.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus, clashed in a short war in 2020 for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
This conflict resulted in an Armenian military rout and a Russian-sponsored ceasefire agreement, which deployed peacekeepers there.
But clashes remain frequent and threaten to derail the fragile truce.
Ambassador Hasmik Tolmajian pointed out that there have been international condemnations of the Lachin blockade.
But this is still insufficient.
"
The European Union has enough levers in its diplomatic arsenal to put pressure on Azerbaijan
", underlined the ambassador, mentioning the possibility of resorting to "
targeted sanctions
" while the country supplies gas to the Union European.
"
Azerbaijan is not Russia, it is not Turkey, it is not China
," she continued, adding that "
if the levers were used, they would be effective
."
Read alsoIn the Senate, the friends of Armenia to the rescue of Nagorno-Karabakh
“Need for a political solution”
Mountainous region mainly populated by Armenians and having seceded from Azerbaijan at the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh poisoned relations between Yerevan and Baku.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two wars, in the 1990s and in 2020, for control of this enclave.
The ambassador also accused Azerbaijan of wanting to "
nibble
" Armenian territory and insisted that Armenia remained "
very attached to a peaceful political solution
".
"
But we cannot impose peace
," she reacted, expressing her country's feeling of isolation.
While all the attention is on Ukraine, "
in several respects, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia risk becoming collateral victims of this war
", she also considered.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna announced last month that she planned to visit
the capitals of Azerbaijan and Armenia "
during April " to recall in particular "
the need for a political solution
".
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