The people of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan’s territory, are enduring a grim humanitarian situation. A blockade imposed by Azerbaijan has led to acute shortages of vital necessities, forcing residents into a life of hardship and uncertainty. Luke Harding, writing for The Guardian, provides an inside look at the unfolding crisis.
Hovig Asmaryan, a resident of the enclave’s capital, Stepanakert, described the daily struggle to feed his family on a diet of potatoes for every meal: “We fry them. And then we boil them…”
Since last December, the blockade has choked off supplies of food, medicines, and fuel. The situation escalated in June when the road to Nagorno-Karabakh was entirely blocked by Azerbaijani guards. Residents are left to barter for essentials, and many areas are without water and electricity. “We don’t have gold. Or oil. Or gas. We have nothing that interests the west, or the east,” Asmaryan lamented, expressing frustration at the lack of international attention.
Azerbaijan has dismissed allegations of a blockade, despite the International Committee for the Red Cross’s confirmation of the scarcity of essential items in the region. “They will not be satisfied until we die in the streets,” Asmaryan told The Guardian.
The blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh has taken on a disturbing facade of environmentalism. As reported by Simon Maghakyan in Time, the authoritarian regime of Azerbaijan has masqueraded the blockade as an “eco-protest” against ore mining operations in the region. This has left Nagorno-Karabakh on the brink of starvation, with the local economy and mining operations halted. The International Court of Justice ordered Azerbaijan to end the blockade on 22 February, but without immediate enforcement, the situation remains dire.
Azerbaijan’s weaponisation of environmentalism, blending ethnic cleansing with environmental causes, sets a dangerous precedent. President Aliyev’s cynical approach has not only exploited a vital global cause but also further corroded Azerbaijan’s civil society, symbolised by the strangled dove at the blockade—an ethnic cleansing strategy sugar-coated as environmentalism.
