“One of the main positions of Azerbaijan is the refugees to return to their homes and then discuss other issues. We believe that their position is due to therewith that Armenia assumes the responsibility for the Azerbaijani refugees. Their goal was for us to create conditions that the Azerbaijani refugees return to Karabakh,” said the RA Government representative in the European Court of Human Rights, Gevorg Kostanyan during the discussion with the journalists at the “Public Relations and Information Center”.
As we know the European Court of Human Rights had satisfied Minas Sargsyan lawsuit against Azerbaijan as well as Elkhan Chiragov’s and others lawsuit against Armenia, suggesting the governments of the two countries to establish a mechanism through which these persons dispossessed as a result of the Karabakh war will be able to restore their property rights and get a compensation. At the Committee of Ministers of Council of Europe, it was decided at the discussion held on March 7-9 to continue the cooperation with the authorities of Armenia on “Chiragov against Armenia” verdict enforcement matter.
These verdicts were announced by the European Court of Human Rights two years ago but the parties have not yet fulfilled them. The delegates of the Committee of CoE Ministers made a decision to accept the information presented by the authorities of Armenia ad notam. Also, the Armenian side is invited to present the steps and outcomes envisaged by the Action Plan to discuss the ways and means of implementing the court decision. During the discussion, the Armenian side claimed that it cannot take over the fulfillment of the verdict of the European Court of Human Rights against Armenia for not having the real opportunities necessary for it. It was offered to provide three conditions.
As for the fulfillment of “Sargsyan vs. Azerbaijan” verdict, the delegates had adopted the Action Plan presented by Azerbaijan. Also, the Azerbaijani authorities are invited to present detailed information on the working group working in this direction which will become the answer to the establishment of mechanisms offered by the Court to solve financial issues. The delegates have also decided to start the review of the “Sargsyan vs. Azerbaijan” case during the session in June this year.
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Gevorg Kostanyan considers the events on March 7-9 as a victory of the Armenian side and a defeat of the Azerbaijani side. He does not exclude that it would become a precedent and the Azerbaijani-Armenian refugees would shower the ECHR with lawsuits against Azerbaijan. It is noteworthy that until November last year, the Azerbaijani side also had a passive posture. They have begun to claim since November that the issue should be discussed in December. The Armenian side managed to postpone it until March. In general, the Armenian side believes that this issue is in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which is under the jurisdiction of the Minsk Group. Conditioned by Azerbaijan’s position, the Armenian side has claimed that the Nagorno-Karabakh representative must participate in the discussion. After long and tough negotiations at the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, in the Armenia delegation staff, Emil Babayan, the advisor to the president of Nagorno-Karabakh was present at the discussion and presented his position on the issue. Gevorg Kostanyan also considers this an unprecedented achievement.
