Armenia v. Azerbaijan: Representatives from Azerbaijan put facts against Armenia’s allegations Public hearings at ICJ

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the UN, held in The Hague on October 12 public hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by the Republic of Armenia in the case concerning the Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan).

The seat of the Court Session, under the presidency of Judge Joan E. Donoghue, President of the Court, addresses by the representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan on numerous anti-Azerbaijan cases initiated by Yerevan to urge immediate ICJ measures, Caliber.Az reports.

A government official and international lawyers speaking on behalf of Azerbaijan presented solid facts to reject accusations against the country, primarily those pertaining to the situation in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region.

Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov said while addressing that court session that today Armenia continued to build on its unfounded accusations of ethnic cleansing and other atrocities against Azerbaijan as part of a campaign that has been in force since September 20.

“Those accusations do not reflect what is happening in the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan, which I will refer to as Karabakh throughout the speech. Importantly, they do not reflect observations, findings, and observations of the now two UN missions that Azerbaijan has allowed to access Karabakh,” Mammadov said.

According to him, Azerbaijan has not engaged and will not engage in ethnic cleansing or any form of attack on civilian population of Karabakh.

“Azerbaijan has given firm assurances after September 19 at the level of the government, through the president’s official statements and will make certain specific undertakings before the court today,” he continued.

Further remarks by Mammadov read as follows:

“The Armenian residents of Karabakh are residents of Azerbaijan and human rights are protected and upheld on an equal basis with those of Azerbaijan’s other citizens. Azerbaijan is encouraging them to return to their homes in Karabakh and will work to create conditions in which they feel safe to return.

Azerbaijan wants to preserve its multi-ethnic community where more than 50 ethnicities and religions, and ethnic Armenians and ethnic Azerbaijanis live side by side in peace as we did before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Azerbaijan is committed to negotiations to bring peace to its territory. The next meeting is planned to take place in Brussels later this month under the auspices of the EU to discuss the need for mutual respect for the countries' territorial integrity and sovereignty as well as conditions for the return both of Armenians and Azerbaijanis displaced since the start of the conflict.

The events of September 19 took place in the face of critical developments in severe security threats posed by Armenia’s military formations illegally operating in Karabakh. There is no dispute that under the clear terms of the November 10, 2020, trilateral statement, Armenia was required to withdraw its troops from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. However, nearly three years later, Armenia continued to engage in and support illegal military activities on Azerbaijan’s sovereign territories.

In the weeks leading to September 19, the activities of the Armenian forces in Karabakh intensified at an alarming rate as those forces went into combat readiness, specifically building new battle fortifications and trenches, planting landmines close to Azerbaijan’s military positions and replanting mines in civilian areas where Azerbaijan had cleared.

On that day, two Azerbaijani civilians and four Azerbaijani police officers died on landmines within single hours in two separate mine explosions in demined areas, which had been re-mined by Armenian forces. In addition, two civilian workers were killed in Aghdam and Shusha as a result of attacks.”

Meanwhile, at an ICJ court session in The Hague on October 12, Rodney Dixon, a UK-based Barrister, speaking on behalf of Azerbaijan addressed “key, legal, and factual allegations made by Armenia in support of its request,” asking the court to assess Armenian allegations in light of independent and reliable evidence about the factual situation on the ground.

Dixon focused on Azerbaijan’s efforts aimed at easing humanitarian goods supplies to the ethnic Armenian minority of the Karabakh region.

“As acknowledged in the UN Security Council, and by the president of the European Council, as well as the Red Cross, Azerbaijan has long been willing to facilitate the use of other routes, such as the Aghdam road for the delivery of supplies to Karabakh. It was the illegal regime installed by Armenia on the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan that obstructed efforts to transport humanitarian supplies by alternative routes for the benefit of the region's ethnic population,” Dixon noted.

He added that Armenia’s overarching claims, pertaining to the so-called “ethnic cleansing” of Karabakh’s Armenian residents, are unsubstantiated and disproved by independent evidence.

Addressing a hearing session of the court session, Samuel Wordsworth, a Barrister at Essex Court Chambers, representing Azerbaijan’s case, said that the court is faced with two conflicting accounts of the September 19-20 events and the risks faced by civilians in light of those events.

He urged to protect ethnic Armenians, who left Azerbaijan after the September 19-20 anti-terrorism measures and protect those, who remain in Karabakh.

Wordsworth added that Azerbaijan has been undertaking all measures in its power to ensure, without distinction as to national or ethnic origin, to help and reintegrate the Armenian residents of Karabakh.

According to him:

1. Baku ensures security and safety, as well as addresses the humanitarian needs of the Armenian residents in Karabakh by:

a) providing food, medicines, and other essential supplies;
b) giving access to available medical treatment;
c) maintaining the supply of public utilities, including gas and electricity.

2. Azerbaijan respects the rights of the residents of Karabakh to freedom of movement and residence, including the safe and prompt return of those residents who decide to return to their homes, and the safe and unimpeded departure of any resident wishing to leave Karabakh.

3. Azerbaijan protects the property of the ethnic Armenian residents who have left Karabakh.

In the meantime, in his address to the ICJ at the court session, the third speaker speaking on behalf of Azerbaijan, Stefan Talmon, Professor of International Law, University of Bonn, Barrister, Twenty Essex Chambers, said there has been no destruction or vandalism of Armenian cultural or religious monuments by Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan has done everything to comply with the court's order of December 7, 2021, and the agent [Elnur Mammadov] has given a binding undertaking that Azerbaijan will continue to protect cultural monuments, artefacts and sites in Karabakh," Talmon noted.

"Azerbaijan must investigate and prosecute life-threatening injuries, death or disappearances in violent circumstances. This obligation also extends to offences that are committed during the active phase of hostility. Azerbaijan is now able to exercise sovereignty over Karabakh, and it must meet its obligations to investigate and prosecute suspects present in its territory," he stated.

In his closing remarks, Azerbaijani agent Elnur Mammadov said “Azerbaijan respectfully asks the court to reject the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by the Republic of Armenia.”