The Stepanakert airport

The Artsakh Foreign Ministry Thursday welcomed and hailed Rep. Brad Sherman for offering an amendment this week to the National Defense Authorization Act that would block the transfer of U.S. defense articles that strengthen Azerbaijan’s offensive airstrike capabilities.

The amendment, which Sherman introduced Tuesday, aims to limit Baku’s ability to act upon its standing threat to shoot down civilian aircraft operating out of Artsakh’s Stepanakert Airport.

The Artsakh Foreign Ministry said in its statement that Sherman’s initiative “is relevant, since Azerbaijan has not abandoned its threats to shoot down civilian aircraft in Artsakh or to use force against the civilian population of Artsakh.”

“The resuming the operation of the Stepanakert airport is a sovereign right of Artsakh and pursues purely civil and humanitarian goals, in particular, the exercise of such an inalienable right as freedom of movement,” explained the foreign ministry statement.

“The ongoing Azerbaijani blockade has become a permanent and serious obstacle to the realization of the right to free movement of the civilian population of Artsakh, along with other fundamental human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other major international treaties,” added the Artsakh foreign ministry.

“This posturing by Azerbaijan clearly demonstrates its blatant disregard for human rights and fundamental freedoms and is a continuation of its policy of collective punishment of the civilian population,” said the Artsakh foreign ministry, which urged the international community to condemn and counter the Azerbaijan’s actions.