YEREVAN, MARCH 23, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan marked the 100th day of its blockade of Lachin Corridor by cutting off the gas supply to Nagorno Karabakh, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

“This happened after the Azerbaijani leader’s speech – which can’t be described anything else than aggressive - in the village of Talish in Nagorno Karabakh, which has been subjected to ethnic cleansing. What happened in Talish village is a substantial, fundamental proof of Azerbaijan’s policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide. In this village – de-populated from Armenians as a result of the 44-Day War, Azerbaijan is demolishing the homes belonging to Armenians by their right to property and is instead building homes intended for Azerbaijanis. What we’ve been alarming about for so long is now reality,” Pashinyan said.

The PM said that by destroying the Armenians’ property in Talish, removing Armenian inscriptions from ancient Armenian monuments, Azerbaijan is showing its model of integration or guarantee of rights and security of Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh.

“These actions are illegal and are explicitly contradicting clause 7 of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement, which says that internally displaced persons and refugees shall return to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent areas under the supervision of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This means that March 18th had to be marked by the Armenian population’s return to Talish, instead of the act of vandalism of destroying their homes,” Pashinyan said.

The Armenian PM noted that these actions by the Azeri leadership were followed by the statement released by the Armenian IDPs of Nagorno Karabakh and adjacent regions.

“As one of the addressees of this statement, I want to clearly underscore that I find their demand to be justified, and the Government of the Republic of Armenia must take all political and diplomatic measures to protect the rights of the authors and beneficiaries of the statement,” Pashinyan said.

Representatives of the forcibly displaced Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh released a statement on March 20 calling on the UNHCR, PM Pashinyan, Russia’s Putin and Azerbaijan’s Aliyev to organize their return.