White House: We continue to urge Azerbaijan to restore free transit through corridor leading to Nagorno-Karabakh
ArmInfo. "I think, as we've said many times, we certainly remain deeply concerned about the
continued closure of that corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh to commercial,
humanitarian, and private vehicles." This was stated at a briefing
by the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National
Security Council (NSC) in the White House, John F. Kirby, referring
to the situation around the Kashatagh (Lachin) corridor.
"We want to see that corridor opened up again. We continue to urge
the Government of Azerbaijan to restore free transit of commercial,
humanitarian, and private vehicles through the corridor
expeditiously," he noted.
At the same time, he stressed " We have maintained a level of
dialogue and diplomacy at various levels, and that continues - all
the way from the National Security Council, Mr.Sullivan and Mr.
Finer, to over at the State Department. I mean, we are engaged on a
routine basis to see if we can achieve a better outcome
diplomatically." However, he refused to comment on "reports of India
supplying arms to Armenia through Iran at a time when Armenia and
Azerbaijan are negotiating a peace treaty".
"I haven't seen those reports, so I'm going to - I'll take your
question and we'll see if we can get you a better answer. I haven't
seen that. All I can say is that we're going to continue to stay
engaged diplomatically to encourage a peaceful resolution here for -
and an easing of tensions, and certainly to get the corridor open
again in Nagorno-Karabakh so that humanitarian assistance and
supplies can get to the people that need it most. But I just - you're
just going to have to let me take your question because I haven't
seen that report and I don't want to speculate," he concluded.