Thousands rallied Friday in Azerbaijan’s restive Nagorno-Karabakh region, demanding Baku reopen the enclave’s sole land link with Armenia, an AFP reporter witnessed.

Some 6,000 people gathered at the central square of Karabakh’s main city, Stepanakert, after Baku’s closure of the vital road to Armenia sparked concerns over a humanitarian crisis in the region.

On Thursday, a separatist official in the Armenian-populated enclave called on Russia to ensure free movement on the Lachin Corridor after Azerbaijan had shut it temporarily, accusing the Armenian branch of the Red Cross of smuggling.

“We ask to ensure unimpeded movement, transportation of people and cargo along the corridor connecting Artsakh with Armenia,” said Gurgen Nersisyan, a state minister in the separatist government, using the Armenian name for the region.

“The situation is terrible, in a few days we will have irreversible consequences,” he added in a statement on Thursday evening.

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan earlier announced fresh EU-mediated peace talks with Baku, as Western engagement grows in region where traditional power broker Russia — distracted by its war in Ukraine — appears to be losing influence.

Karabakh has been at the centre of a decades-long territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which have fought two wars over the mountainous territory, mainly populated by Armenians.

Russia sponsored the latest ceasefire that ended six weeks of fighting in autumn 2020 and saw Armenia cede swathes of territories it had controlled for decades.

Under the deal, the five-kilometre-wide Lachin Corridor was to be manned by Russian peacekeepers to ensure free passage between Armenia and Karabakh.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)