Azerbaijan cuts off supplies of food and medicine to Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh region. Observers warn of genocide. A young teacher reports from the blocked enclave.
The residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have to queue for bread. Those who are at the back of the line often get none. Cars in the small region in the Caucasus stand still on the side of the road – there is no more petrol. Just like medicine or baby food. For a month, the 120,000 mostly Armenian residents of the enclave have been cut off from essential supplies.
Two countries have been fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades: the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The region is about the size of the Ruhr area and surrounded by Azerbaijan. Only one road connects the enclave to Armenia, the country most of the residents feel they belong to and which has so far provided for them.
The street is called Lachin Corridor. It was already blocked by Azerbaijanis in mid-December – they initially disguised themselves as protesting environmental activists. Then Azerbaijan set up a checkpoint: humanitarian aid from the International Red Cross and supplies from Russia, an ally of Armenia, were let in to Nagorno-Karabakh, ambulances out. But that ended a month ago.