Hundreds of opposition supporters rallied in the Armenian capital on Wednesday, urging the government to act to unblock a vital road to the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, after weeks of rising tension over Azerbaijani protests which choked off basic supplies to the territory.
Protesters urged the administration in Yerevan to “take appropriate measures” to secure the re-opening of the so-called Lachin corridor, the only supply route to ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been blocked by crowds from neighboring Azerbaijan since Dec. 12. Azeri authorities said on Tuesday that the protests would be suspended if monitors were given access to what Azerbaijan calls illegal mining sites in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Yerevan since a separatist war there ended in 1994. That conflict left not only Nagorno-Karabakh itself but large chunks of surrounding lands in Armenian hands.
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