LONDON (Reuters) – Azerbaijan is ready to allow Red Cross aid from Armenia into the ethnic Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh enclave if Red Crescent aid from Azerbaijan is let in at the same time, Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy adviser to President Ilham Aliyev, told Reuters.
Armenia has repeatedly accused Azerbaijan of blockading the “Lachin corridor”, the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, and says it has caused shortages of food, medicines and other essentials.
Baku says it restricted movement to thwart weapons smuggling, and that it has let the Red Cross evacuate people to Armenia for medical treatment. But it has not allowed food and other supplies in.
Hajiyev said in an interview on Thursday that Azerbaijan was now ready to let the Red Cross bring in humanitarian aid on condition that the Red Crescent also be allowed to bring in aid, on a different road from Azerbaijan.
He said the two roads – the Lachin corridor and the Aghdam road – could be opened to aid simultaneously as part of a pilot scheme that could defuse tensions and spur long-running peace talks between Baku and Yerevan.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
