Helen Dadayan’s case as litmus test
Armenian provocateurs’ hopes get collapsed

ANALYTICS  17 September 2023 - 11:34

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has rejected a lawsuit on the issue of transporting the body of Helen Dadayan, a native of the Garabagh economic region of Azerbaijan, who died in an accident on the Yerevan-Gyumri highway. Dadayan's relatives appealed to the ECHR some time ago to order the court to oblige Baku to allow the transportation of the body to the Garabagh economic region of Azerbaijan for burial. But, as we can see, the ECHR refused them.

Mushegh Safaryan, the dead girl's uncle, told FactInfo that the court did not consider it necessary to discuss the body’s emergency transportation. "This decision was unexpected for us," admitted the relative of the deceased, and according to the favourite Armenian tradition, he began to lament that the family members - father, mother, brothers-sisters, who remain in Karabakh, are now "in a very bad condition".

Safaryan also complained that his niece's body had been in Gorus morgue for about a month. "Helen has no relatives in Armenia except me, and I am not authorized to make any decision on burial," Safaryan said. Asked whether he thinks it is possible for family members to come to Armenia to attend the girl's funeral, Safaryan said that this option is unacceptable to them.

Why is it unacceptable? Therefore, it turns out that, according to Mushegh Safaryan, no one can guarantee their return to the Garabagh economic region of Azerbaijan in the future. In addition, he explained, "if we bury her here, then there may be problems with exhumation for reburial, and her parents want her grave to be near their place of residence. So now they don't know what to do."

The Armenian side always prefers to interpret any decisions of any international authorities in its own way. Therefore, we should not be surprised if in this case the Armenians announce that the ECHR "found Azerbaijan guilty". Absurd? More than absurd. But were there not enough absurdities from the Armenian side? Plenty. So one more - one less does not make any difference for the reputation of Armenia.

Let me remind you how this ridiculous lawsuit in the ECHR in the Dadayan case arose in general. In mid–August, due to an overnight accident on the Yerevan-Gyumri highway, 11 people were killed and six more were hospitalized. Is Azerbaijan to blame for this? Any more or less sane person will answer "no". But Armenians would not be Armenians if they did not try to use this incident to accuse our country.

It turned out that one of the victims of this accident in the territory, for a moment, of the Republic of Armenia, namely 21-year-old Helen Dadayan, was from one of the villages of the Khojavend district of Azerbaijan. Well, the Armenian media began to scribble texts that Helen studied at the Eurasian International University, and therefore left Khankendi for Armenia nine months ago. No one forced her to do this at gunpoint - she decided so herself and quietly moved to Armenia. Over the past months, she had plenty of time to use the Lachin CHECKPOINT and return to her parents in Garabagh, that is, to Azerbaijan. Fortunately, there are thousands of examples of how many Armenians have already made such trips.

But Helen, while she was alive and well, did not do so. But after her death in a traffic accident, a campaign was launched in Armenia to blame Azerbaijan for her death. Her parents with the media and ardent revanchists who joined in, threw daily tantrums about the fact that the girl should be buried only in the Garabagh economic region of Azerbaijan.

I should note that since the beginning of the Karabakh conflict, tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis born in Armenia have died. All of them were completely deprived of the opportunity to be buried where they were born and lived, and their relatives to this day cannot see their homes. And all because the most real ethnic cleansing was carried out against Azerbaijanis in Armenia.

Against this background, the very fact that tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians live in the Garabakh economic region of Azerbaijan is already a very serious argument for official Baku to solve the problems related to Garabagh’s Armenian population on its own, without anyone's instructions. Moreover, none of these Armenians has a passport of the Republic of Azerbaijan, i.e. all of them illegally reside on the land. But in spite of everything, the Azerbaijani state has given them the right to choose whether to become citizens of the country or leave it. Azerbaijan, as always, shows restraint and generosity.

And what do we see in response? A primitive, useless attempt to put pressure on us. Starting from the demand to deliver supplies from Armenia to the Garabagh separatists and ending with speculation about the Armenian girl Helen, who died in a traffic accident in Armenia.

Her mother Alvard Safaryan even wrote an open letter to the Armenian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister with the following content: "I appeal to you, Nikol Pashinyan and Ararat Mirzoyan, fulfil your duties to resolve the situation. My daughter should be buried in her land, next to us, and you should solve this issue. Do not politicize the tragic death of my daughter. I will not give up, I will fight until my daughter is by my side. Act, Nikol Pashinyan and Ararat Mirzoyan".

And what do you think of the demand - "my daughter must be buried in her own land, next to us"? Is it appropriate for a grief-stricken mother, because for Armenians "their land" is the territory of the Republic of Armenia? Even their Prime Minister has publicly recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including the Garabagh economic region.

How he acted afterwards is another question. Nevertheless, his confessions make all the hopes of the mother of the deceased Helen and other Armenians illegally residing in the territory of the Garabagh economic region of our country that someone will recognize Azerbaijani Garabagh as their land at least ridiculous.

The ECHR also confirmed this, noting that Garabagh is part of Azerbaijan. Therefore, Elen's relatives and friends should ask for anything from official Baku, thus recognizing the laws of our country. Apply to the relevant structures of Azerbaijan, provide all necessary documents with a request to allow the body to be buried in the Khojavand district of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

That is all. This, in short, is the meaning of the ECHR decision, which should become for everyone both in Armenia and in the Garabagh economic region of Azerbaijan not a "surprise", but another evidence that their hopes for the recognition of Armenian myths as reality are meaningless.

Caliber.Az