From white doves to peaceful drones... Human rights activist on ECHR decision

On December 21, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced a decision in connection with the application of Armenia on the situation in the Lachin road. The ECHR examined the Armenian government's request for interim measures against Azerbaijan. Noting that at the moment it is "debatable whether Azerbaijan has control over the Lachin corridor," and taking into account the commitments undertaken by Azerbaijan in accordance with paragraph 6 of the Trilateral Declaration of November 10, 2020, stating that "the Republic of Azerbaijan guarantees the safety of movement of citizens, vehicles and goods in both directions along the Lachin corridor," recalling the commitments undertaken by Azerbaijan in the European Convention, the European Court, on the basis of the 39th provision of the Rules of Court, decided to oblige Azerbaijan to take all necessary and sufficient measures to ensure the movement of severely ill persons in need of medical care in Armenia along the Lachin road, as well as the safe movement of persons left homeless or in need of livelihood.

And it is not at all clear what the Armenian side is so happy about in the current situation. After all, from the very beginning of the protest at the Lachin-Khankendi section of the road its participants have stressed not once, not twice, but probably dozens of times that they are not blocking this road at all, moreover, it was emphasized that all categories of people listed in the ECHR decision (and indeed all civilians) can pass through the corridor in both directions at any time.

Thus, we get a somewhat strange situation - the European Court obliges Azerbaijan to do what it also undertook to do, having publicly announced this long before the current decision. A severely ill man was carried along the Lachin road these days. And no one bothered anyone. Is this not proof of compliance with the conditions listed also in the ECHR decision? It turns out that by publishing this decision of the ECHR, Armenia and the remaining Karabakh separatists are simply making a fool of themselves. Because it is unclear how they can even try to use this ECHR verdict in their favour?

Commenting on these matters, director of Azerbaijan's Human Rights Center Eldar Zeynalov told Caliber.Az that in his opinion, in this kind of situation the Armenian side is more glad that the world reacted to their complaint than to the content of the adopted documents. Because the decision is unlikely to satisfy the excessive hopes that the authors of the application to the ECHR pinned on Strasbourg: condemnation and punishment of Azerbaijan for what is happening, recognition of the right of Karabakh separatists to export uncontrolled Azerbaijani natural resources to Armenia, etc.

"In fact, Strasbourg has only indicated to Baku the need for seriously ill people to travel safely through the corridor (for treatment outside Azerbaijan), i.e. we are talking about the movement of a few dozen people. This indication does not refer to the passage through the corridor of either the lightly ill or, even more so, the healthy. The transport of other goods from Armenia is completely ignored. And the ECHR's reference not so much to the conventions as to the Trilateral Declaration means that Strasbourg is encouraging the parties to the conflict to resolve such issues themselves.

Moreover, the European Court recognizes that today Azerbaijan has no control over the situation in the corridor (the extent of this control is considered by the ECHR "disputable and unclear"). And this means that it is illogical to demand Baku to effectively restore order in the corridor and in general to exert much pressure on it in this matter. After all, demands to "ensure safe passage" may cause Baku's counter-enthusiasm, such as proposals to create checkpoints, carry out inspections of vehicles, introduce Azerbaijani police forces into the corridor, control the corridor with the help of drones, etc. Unspoken wishes, especially before the New Year, can come true in a most unpredictable way.

What I personally find interesting in this story is how much more important and urgent issues have been technically overshadowed, namely the preparations for signing a peace treaty which could have opened the roads much more effectively than the decision of the ECHR. We were promised that the agreement will be ready by the end of this year, but it does not seem so. The talks on the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the absence of which has already caused several dangerous conflicts, have also fallen silent. Discussions about technical preparations for another corridor, the Zangazur corridor, have also fallen silent.

It seems that the Armenian side is trying to cover up the sabotage of the peace talks with verbal speculation around the action of the Azerbaijani activists, delaying them in the hope of a hypothetical change in the international situation to Yerevan's advantage. We have already seen enough of this over the past 30 years. It seems to be time for our environmentalists to switch from launching pigeons to launching peaceful drones to monitor ore deposits. Since Russian peacekeepers cannot provide security to civil society activists and officials of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, this would not be the worst way out, providing our environmentalists with security," Zeynalov said.