"Baku to use all available to legally assess Armenia's crimes" MFA statement

Azerbaijan will use all available international mechanisms to legally assess Armenia's crimes committed during the occupation, as well as ongoing crimes.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry press service made the remarks on September 23 in response to a media question about a new appeal filed with the International Court of Justice under the 1965 International Convention on the Abolition of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Caliber.Az reports.

The Foreign Ministry recalled that in September last year, Azerbaijan filed lawsuits against Armenia in the International Court of Justice under the International Convention on the Abolition of All Forms of Racial Discrimination:

"The court, based on the petitions filed by Azerbaijan, unanimously decided on interim measures against Armenia on December 7, 2021. Thus, the court ordered Armenia to take all necessary measures to prevent the incitement of racial hatred on the basis of hatred on the territory of Armenia against Azerbaijani citizens and persons of Azerbaijani origin, as well as to refrain from actions that could aggravate or prolong the dispute, including complicating its resolution.

The basis for the adoption of this court decision was the evidence presented by Azerbaijan on the non-prosecution of Armenian individuals and ethnic-nationalist groups (mainly [anti-Azerbaijani paramilitary groups] VOMA, POGA, etc.), propagandising revanchism, inciting hatred and calling for violence against Azerbaijanis, encouraging in some cases their activities by Armenian state bodies, rewarding activists of organisations.

Despite these court decisions, Armenia continued to grossly violate its obligations in 2022, no practical measures were taken on the territory of the country against revanchists inciting hatred and calling for violence against Azerbaijanis, and illegal paramilitary formations continued their activities against Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis. Suffice it to say that the main slogan heard in Armenia during demonstrations inside the country since April of this year and directed against Azerbaijanis was 'Armenia without Turks'," the press service statement says.

At the same time, before the city of Lachin, Zabukh and Sus villages of [the Lachin] district came under Azerbaijan's full control, persons of Armenian origin who illegally lived there during the occupation demonstratively showed their ethnic hatred towards Azerbaijanis by burning houses belonging to Azerbaijanis and destroying forests. The Armenian government has not yet taken any effective measures to prevent these cases or to bring these persons to justice for the crimes committed.

In addition, during the demining of the Lachin district in 2021, up to 1,400 Armenian-made mines were discovered. The absolute majority of the territories where mines were buried are villages and settlements where Azerbaijanis once lived. The main purpose of this provocation is to artificially prevent the return of internally displaced persons to their homeland.

These pieces of evidence, testifying to Armenia's gross violation of the decisions of the International Court of Justice of December 7, 2021, were officially submitted to the International Court of Justice today [September 23]," the ministry said in its statement.