Pashinyan accuses Azerbaijan of deliberately depriving Karabakh of gas

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has accused Azerbaijan of deliberately depriving the people of Nagorno-Karabakh of gas supplies again.

Beginning from March 8, over 100,000 residents in Karabakh were deprived of gas for over 10 days, and because the pipeline was damaged in territories currently under Baku's control, the Azerbaijani military would not allow the Armenian side to eliminate the problem. Gas supply resumed on March 19, only to be interrupted again on March 22.

The Azerbaijan armed forces have also been violating the ceasefire and using loudspeakers to spread panic among the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, attempting to force them to leave their homes.

Pashinyan told a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, March 24 that as a result of Azerbaijan's intervention, the citizens of the Artsakh Republic have been deprived of natural gas for three days now, adding that it is Azerbaijan's policy to make it impossible for Artsakh's Armenians to live in their homeland.

"As you know, on March 7, the pipeline supplying gas to Artsakh was blown up in the territory under the control of Azerbaijan. Under various pretexts, Azerbaijan did not allow the gas pipeline to be repaired, and eventually repaired it itself," Pashinyan said.

"As a result, a valve has been installed on the gas pipeline, according to the information we have, and after restoring the gas supply for several days on March 18, Azerbaijan simply shut down the valve on March 21 without any explosions, thus proving that it was also responsible for the March 7 explosion."

The Prime Minister noted that both instances of gas supply interruptions happened in extreme weather conditions and amid freezing temperatures. According to him, the population of Karabakh are facing a humanitarian disaster.

He added, however, that thanks to Baku's action the international community will no be able to understand the essence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict without flipping through hundreds of pages.