Turkey’s Position on the Blockade of the Lachin Corridor

8 m.   |  2023-01-28

T he position of Azerbaijan’s military political ally Turkey on the issue of blockading the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia, the Kashatagh or the Lachin humanitarian corridor by a group of Azerbaijanis on December 12, 2022, as a result of which 120,000 Armenians of Artsakh remain in the blockade for weeks, was expressed both in political-diplomatic and information-propaganda fields. Turkey expressed unequivocal support and solidarity to Azerbaijan.

Ankara’s first reaction to the blockade of the Lachin Corridor completely fit into the logic of the Turkish political course of providing multi-layer support for almost all of anti-Armenian actions of Baku over the years. The first response was made just two days after the Lachin Corridor was blocked, on December 14. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu who was in Turkmenistan at that time, particularly emphasized in response to the question of Azerbaijani mass media:

  • “The fact that the wealth of the territories of Azerbaijan is illegally mined and sold does not comply with the international law, that means stealing the wealth of Azerbaijan. The obstruction of people going there as observers also indicates the danger of violation.”
  • “The main responsibility in the Lachin Corridor lies with the Russian, since they are also responsible for the proper functioning of the Lachin Corridor.”
  • “Azerbaijan is right both in legal terms, in terms of justice and opposing this illegal activity in its territories. We support Azerbaijan in this just struggle as well.” 

Thus, Turkish Foreign Minister expressed a full support to Baku and repeated the “justification” of Azerbaijani side related to the blockade of the Lachin corridor, and placed the main responsibility for the uninterrupted functioning of the corridor on the Russian peacekeeping contingent. M. Cavusoglu did not touch upon the fact that according to paragraph 6 of the tripartite statement, signed on November 9, 2020 by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, it is Azerbaijan that is the guarantor of the safe movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo in both directions along the Lachin corridor. Moreover, a few days later, while talking about the process of normalization of relations with Armenia, Cavusoglu regarded the developments around the Lachin corridor as a “sincerity test”.

Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Cahit Bagci visited Shushi on the 10th day of the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, on December 21. Although no photos and videos were released about whether Ambassador Bagci met with the Azerbaijanis, who blocked the corridor, he posted photos in his Twitter account from the blocked part of the Lachin corridor with the inscription “Karabakh is Azerbaijan”. With that step, Turkish official once again encouraged the inhumane and genocidal actions of Baku, which was repeatedly stated by the leadership, officials and citizens of Artsakh and Armenia, are directly aimed at forcing Armenians of Artsakh to renounce their collective rights and subject them to ethnic cleansing, completely reaching de-Armenianization of Artsakh, following the successful example of historical settlements of Shushi and Hadrut as a result of the 44-day war.

On December 22, Omer Celik, Deputy Chairman and Spokesperson of the ruling Justice and Development party in Turkey, addressed the issue of the blockade of the Lachin Corridor and once again expressed Turkey’s stance. Celik generally emphasized the following:

  • “We are carefully following the tension in the Lachin Corridor, connecting Armenia with the territories of Azerbaijan under the control of the Russian peacekeeping forces.”
  • “Extremism supporting Armenians are trying to make provocations in response to the visit of the Azerbaijani delegation there. Extraction of minerals in the territory of Azerbaijan without the permission of Baku is unacceptable.”
  • “It is said, that passing through the Lachin Corridor is not allowed, however, Azerbaijan only prevents trucks loaded with minerals.”
  • “Armenia should inform everyone about the need to refrain from such provocations.”

Celik’s statement shows that although Turkey has a full information about the processes taking place in the corridor, and he as the Deputy Chairman of the ruling party in Turkey prefers to pay tribute to Azerbaijani theses, arguing that the corridor is actually open. And this in the case that not only Artsakh and Armenia, but also numerous international role players claim about the blockade of the corridor, which was clearly stated shortly before his speech, at a meeting of the UN Security Council related to the situation in the Lachin Corridor, including in the assessments of permanent member states of the Security Council, the United StatesFranceRussia and later it should be recorded in the resolution condemning the blockade of the corridor adopted as a result of the discussion on the “Humanitarian consequences of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh” in the European Parliament. Additionally, both Cavusoglu’s statement that developments of the Lachin Corridor are a “sincerity test”, and Celik’s emphasis that Armenia should inform everyone about the need to refrain from “such provocations”, clearly means that Ankara openly connects this issue with the settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations and tries to exert diplomatic pressure on Armenia in this context.

T hese days, Turkish Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar, Turkey’s Presidency’s Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun, and the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey  Mustafa Sentop, although did not directly addressed the issue of the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, however, made statements about Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan, on the Nagorno-Karabakh problem and Turkey’s support to Azerbaijan in any issue. On January 9, 2023, at a meeting with his Azerbaijani partner, Sentop once again accused Armenia of committing “actions threatening regional peace”.

Besides such high-level political support, Turkish both state and other media worked in perfect harmony with the Azerbaijani media during this period. Journalists from the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu and from the pro-government  Haber Global and CNN Türk covered the Azerbaijani actions from the blocked part of the Lachin Corridor exclusively with Azerbaijani theses. It was mainly demonstrated and propagated that the corridor was closed only for environmental reasons, and the footage of the passing of one or two vehicles of the Russian peacekeeping forces through the closed part of the road was cited as counterarguments to the claims of the blockade of the corridor, and Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan and State Minister Ruben Vardanyan were targeted  (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).

The opposition political forces of Turkey did not refer to this topic. Only Garo Paylan, the Armenian MP of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who advocates the protection of the rights of minorities, spoke out about the problem. First, he appealed to the Baku regime, with a call to “solve the issues with Karabakh through negotiations”, then to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging “to take responsibility for the end of the blockade in Nagorno-Karabakh”. Paylan stated: “The establishment of peace and tranquility in the Caucasus, as well as preventing conflicts and tension is also in Turkey’s interest. If we all take responsibility for the end of the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, we can return to the positive agenda both in the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace process and in Turkey-Armenia normalization process.” Paylan also tried to put this issue on the agenda of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. On January 16, 2023, he sent a written request to the Parliament addressing to the Foreign Minister M. Cavusoglu. He asked, what Turkey is doing to resolve the deepening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, as of January 19, there was no response to his request.

Summing up, we can state that Ankara, on the principle of “one nation, two states”, both on the eve of the 44-day war in 2020, as well as during and after the hostilities unconditionally supported and keeps on supporting the Baku regime. Ankara’s support actually applies even to cases of Azerbaijan committing international crimes, violations of well-known principles and norms of international law, obligations assumed by interstate documents, such as the blockade of the Lachin humanitarian corridor. Moreover, Ankara directly connects the normalization process of Armenia-Turkey relations, which according to initial statements, should have started and developed without any preconditions, not only with the resolution of Artsakh conflict, but also with the Azerbaijan-Armenia normalization process, putting forward a new precondition.        

By supporting and assisting the Baku regime in the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, Turkey encourages Azerbaijan to continue the aggression unleashed against Artsakh and its people, with the participation of Turkey and mercenaries from the Middle East in 2020.