PAt the government meeting on July 20, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that at the tripartite meeting in Brussels on July 15, no concrete result was reached in the direction of opening the Lachin corridor and preventing the humanitarian crisis in Karabakh. 

"From a political point of view, the President of the EU Council, in his statement on the conclusions of the meeting, emphasized the need to open the Lachin Corridor, as well as the importance of solving the issue of security and the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians through dialogue between [the separatist] Stepanakert [Khankendi in Azerbaijani] and Baku. We are sure that this dialogue cannot be effective without international intervention and mechanisms because Baku continues its aggressive and threatening rhetoric against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. The deep purpose of this, in our opinion, is ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh," Pashinyan emphasized.

The Prime Minister of Armenia also noted that the decisions of the International Court of Justice dated February 22 and July 6 have not been implemented. In these decisions, Azerbaijan is obliged to open the Lachin corridor. According to Pashinyan, the need to send an international fact-finding mission to the Lachin Corridor and Karabakh has become even more acute during this period: "At the same time, the formation of an international dialogue mechanism between Stepanakert and Baku is the most constructive way out of the situation, and all efforts should be made in this direction."

Response from Azerbaijan

On the same day, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated that the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, in his speech during the government meeting on July 20, referring to the meeting held at the level of leaders in Brussels, once again especially emphasized the claim they have repeated for the last eight months regarding the Lachin road.

"The Armenian side's claim that Azerbaijan is taking steps to carry out 'ethnic cleansing' in the region is quite wrong and dangerous. Unlike Armenia, which carried out mass massacres and deportations against Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijan has never implemented a policy of ethnic cleansing against Armenian residents. The fact that the Prime Minister of Armenia, who recognizes Karabakh as the territory of Azerbaijan, instead of promoting the reintegration of Armenian residents to Azerbaijan, puts forward conditions in the form of dialogue is considered a step against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and is unacceptable," the report added.

"Regardless of the framework in which Azerbaijan and Armenia delimit the borders, it is clear to everyone that Armenia is trying to make the process fail, given that it does not fully fulfill its commitment to withdraw the Armenian armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan, continues to provide financial support to the territory, and emphasizes its territorial claims in various letters, statements, and speeches, and manipulations in this direction are unfounded," it stated.

"The Azerbaijani side, as the initiator of the peace process with Armenia in the above-mentioned directions, is interested in establishing peace, stability, and security in the region and is an active party in the negotiation process. If the Armenian side is interested in peace, it should stop efforts that hinder the peace process," the information emphasized.