OTTAWA – Secretary of State Melanie Joly says she is “deeply concerned” that Azerbaijan is exacerbating a long-standing dispute with Armenia over a breakaway province by blocking its main access route.

Tensions between the two countries have skyrocketed in recent months since Azerbaijan restricted access to the road linking Armenia to the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The region is mainly populated by ethnic Armenians but is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

In January, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee heard that Azerbaijan restricted access to the only road leading into the area, the so-called Lachin Corridor, although medical services can still pass.

In her first statement this year on the conflict, Ms Joly pointed out that a new Azerbaijani checkpoint along the road “clearly undermines the peace process and stability across the region”.

Canada says the two countries must keep talking and sticking to the peace process aimed at ending recurring clashes that have erupted in recent years.

“We call on the authorities of Azerbaijan to reopen the Lachin corridor. It must remain open and unhindered to allow the free movement of people and goods,” read Ms Joly’s statement on Tuesday morning.

Last December the road was blocked by groups of Azerbaijanis who insisted they were independent environmental activists opposed to mining. The Azerbaijani government says it has no ties to the groups, but others have disputed that claim.

In February, the International Court of Justice ordered the evacuation of the demonstrations to allow humanitarian access.

Even so, the Azerbaijani government said on Sunday it had set up a “border checkpoint” on the road, which Armenia is said to be using to station soldiers and weapons in the breakaway region.

The two countries accuse each other of violating the pact that ended heavy fighting in 2020.

The Armenian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that one of its soldiers was killed by an Azerbaijani sniper near the border, but Azerbaijan denied the claim and reported separately that its soldiers have now come under fire in another part of the border area.

— With information from The Associated Press