Armenia seeks emergency U.N. meeting

YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenia called on the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on the worsening humanitarian situation in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is mostly populated by Armenians.

In his letter to the president of the U.N. Security Council, sent Friday and released by Armenia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday, Armenian U.N. Ambassador Mher Margaryan said the people of Nagorno-Karabakh were “on the verge of a fullfledged humanitarian catastrophe.”

Since December, Azerbaijan has blockaded the only road leading from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, severely restricting the delivery of food, medical supplies and other essentials to the region of about 120,000 people.

“The Armenian government asks for the intervention of the U.N. Security Council, as the main body responsible for maintaining international peace and security, to prevent mass atrocities, including war crimes, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and genocide,” Margaryan wrote.

Armenia’s appeal comes after the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court warned Tuesday that Azerbaijan is preparing genocide against ethnic Armenians in its Nagorno-Karabakh region and called for the U.N. Security Council to bring the matter before the international tribunal.

The report said Azerbaijan’s blockade of the only road leading from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh seriously impedes food, medical supplies and other essentials to the region of about 120,000 people.

A government representative in Azerbaijan dismissed the report from Luis Moreno Ocampo, who was the International Criminal Court’s first prosecutor, telling The Associated Press it “contains unsubstantiated allegations and accusations.”