The International Court of Justice on Monday began hearing Armenia’s case against Azerbaijan stemming from the now seven-week blockade of Artsakh, which as Yerevan has warned is Azerbaijan’s efforts to ethnically cleanse Artsakh of its Armenian residents.
Armenia’s representative to the international legal arenas, Yegishe Kirakosyan, and attorney representing Armenia argued in front of the court, whose headquarters are in The Hague and is the principal judicial body of the United Nations.
“Azerbaijan shall cease its orchestration and support of the alleged protests blocking uninterrupted free movement along the Lachin corridor in both directions, Azerbaijan shall ensure uninterrupted free movement of all persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin corridor in both directions, and Azerbaijan shall immediately and fully restore and refrain from disrupting or impeding the provision of natural gas and other public utilities to Nagorno Karabakh,” Kirakosyan said in presenting Armenia’s charge at the International Court of Justice public hearing on Armenia’s request for provisional measures against Azerbaijan in the case of Armenia v. Azerbaijan.
“If the court does not act quickly the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh will be faced with an impossible choice, to leave their ancestral homes or to stay there and starve,” Kirakosyan said in his remarks to the court.
“President Aliyev has made that plainly clear, he has explicitly demanded that ethnic Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh ‘leave.’ He has stated that Azerbaijan’s ‘main duty was to expel Armenians from our lands.’ He has stated that no songs will be sung in the foreign language of Armenian and from now on the Azerbaijani language will dominate this land.’’ Kirakosyan said, quoting a speech by Aliyev, in which he said, “if someone doesn’t want to be our citizen, the road is open, they can leave.”
“In other words, ethnic Armenians may not enter Nagorno Karabakh but they may leave. Judges of the court, such blatant acts of ethnic cleansing have no place in modern era and this court is the last hope for the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh,” Kirakosyan said.
The Armenian expert added that Azerbaijan’s continued cutting off the gas supply to Artsakh is a means for achieve Aliyev’s plans.
“In other words, ethnic Armenians may not enter Nagorno Karabakh but they may leave. Judges of the court, such blatant acts of ethnic cleansing have no place in modern era and this court is the last hope for the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh,” Kirakosyan said.
Kirakosyan explained that Armenia hoped that the requests in the application would have been long resolved through the intervention by the United Nations Security Council, which held an emergency session on the Lachin Corridor blockade, but has not yet reached a consensus decision on the matter.
“But Azerbaijan appears intent on strangling the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh no matter the human cost. One person has already died from lack of medical care and numerous others are at risk of a similar fate. Grocery store shelves are empty and food is being rationed. There are shortages of essential medicines and medical supplies, trade and businesses have completely stopped,” Kirakosyan said, adding that gas has been repeatedly shut down and schools and kindergartens remain closed.
“Despite the mounting cost of this humanitarian disaster of its own making, Azerbaijan has sought to justify and perpetuate its blockade on a basis of an environmental fiction that no one believes,” Kirakosyan said, adding that Azerbaijan does so despite its unequivocal commitment under the November 9, 2020 statement to guarantee free movement of persons, vehicles and goods along the Lachin corridor.
Kirakosyan noted that Azerbaijan’s actions have received near-unanimous international condemnation.
Furthermore, Kirakosyan said, Azerbaijan has also ignored the ECHR’s order to take necessary measures to ensure safe passage of ill persons in need of treatment in Armenia. In a rare move, the court went on to notify the the committee of ministers of Europe about Azerbaijan’s non-compliance.
Lawrence Martin, one of the attorneys representing Armenia at the ICJ, presented the facts justifying Armenia’s request for provisional measures against Azerbaijan at the International Court of Justice.
“We’ve come before you today to request your urgent intervention to end an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe,” Martin said.
“Since 12 December last year the ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh has been almost entirely cut off from the outside world. They have been and continue to be deprived of access to food, medicine and all other necessities of life. Without swift actions by the court their lives are in danger,” Martin added, recalling that tens of thousands of Armenians were forcibly displaced from territories which Azerbaijan captured during the 44-day war in 2020.
He said that after the deployment of Russian peacekeepers, Azerbaijan continued to do everything to make the life of Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh “intolerable.” Martin pointed that Azerbaijan attacked villages in violations of the ceasefire agreement, forcibly displaced residents, including in Parukh, Berdzor, Aghavno and Sus villages, terrorized and killed Armenians.
Azerbaijan never concealed its intentions, Martin said, quoting Azerbaijani president Aliyev as saying “Our main duty was to expel the Armenians from our lands.”
“And this is the man who calls Armenians dogs, savages, barbarians,” Martin said.
The lawyer told the court that the so-called Azerbaijani “eco-activists” who are blocking the Lachin Corridor are fake. He said that after two days when the blockade began, the authorities in Nagorno Karabakh responded to the demands of the so-called eco activities, announcing that they would allow international monitors to inspect the two mines in question, however the Azerbaijani side refused. Furthermore, Nagorno Karabakh shut down the operations of the mines after two weeks, but again the blockade did not stop.
The counsel also stressed that those claiming to be eco-activists are affiliated with state-sponsored non-governmental organizations in Azerbaijan and one of the leaders of the activists is actually a military intelligence officer.
Martin added that Azerbaijanis have far more serious environmental problems right near their homes that they should think about. For example, the oil and gas production leading to disastrous environmental consequences, including in the Caspian Sea.
“What’s actually happening here?” asked Martin. “It is obvious, Azerbaijan is attempting to achieve what the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev described as his main duty, to expel Armenians from Nagorno Karabakh.”
Konstantinos Salonitis, another attorney representing Armenia, said that humanitarian crisis resulting from the blockade of Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan continues and will continue as long as the International Court of Justice has not urgently intervened
Speaking about irreparable prejudice in the present case, Salonitis said that the court has the power to indicate provisional measures when irreparable prejudice would be caused to rights which are the subject to judicial proceedings, or when the disregard of such rights may entail irreparable consequences.
By requesting provisional measures Armenia seeks to protect the rights of the ethnic Armenians under the convention, adding that the court should consider the factor of urgency in the matter.
“The blockade must be lifted entirely. And unimpeded access to public services must be ensured so that the consequences for the victims of this cruel blockade are eliminated. This isn’t only Armenia’s conclusion, but also the conclusion of the international community,” Salonitis said, citing the numerous calls from the international community addressed to Azerbaijan to end the blockade.
“Azerbaijan brags openly about how it cannot be stopped. Not by international community and even not by the binding order of the court in Strasbourg [ECHR],” Salonitis added.
