For the past two days, a public hearing has been held at the UN International Court of Justice at Armenia’s request. Our country demands interim measures against Azerbaijan on the basis of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It is about violence and the inhuman treatment of Armenians by the neighboring country, the destruction of Armenian monuments, as well as hate speech.
Earlier, the Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met in Minsk. Judging by official information, the positions of the parties did not even come close to each other. Bayramov believes that peace should be established by recognizing the territorial integrity of his country (i.e., recognizing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan), as well as unblocking the roads (i.e., providing Azerbaijan with the “Zangezur Corridor”). According to Ararat Mirzoyan, negotiations should be held within the framework of the Minsk Group and the return of prisoners of war. This was followed by the Pashinyan-Aliyev remote debate with the same content at the CIS summit.
Against the background of these events, as well as the recent Putin-Pashinyan meeting, Azerbaijan has intensified provocations in Artsakh. We have 6 wounded. Contrary to the alarming mood spread on social networks, I think that as long as there are Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh, large-scale hostilities will not start there. Another question is that today we have to think about what will happen in 4 years, when it is not ruled out that the peacekeepers will leave Artsakh. It seems to me that one of the goals of Azerbaijan is to show the Russians and the whole world that the peacekeepers are not able to ensure peace, their presence is meaningless, and that is when Azerbaijan will establish order “in its territory” (i.e., kill or expel all Armenians), then perfect peace will be established in the region.
In these conditions, I can not say at the moment what the steps of the Armenian side should be. It is only clear to me what NOT to do: 1) Not announce that the era of peace has begun; 2) Not state that these are positive signals from Azerbaijan; 3) Not pin special hopes on the so-called “international law.”
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In connection with this last point, I will make a small quote from Levon Ter-Petrossian’s book. “Although in the past, as well as today, international law was defined by the superpowers, it did not happen at the level of relevant organizations, but through the proclamation of egocentric concepts adopted by empires. It does not matter that they would contradict each other. Instead, they would turn the world into a stage for irreconcilable animosity.” Although it is said in the context of the Middle Ages, I think it is relevant.
Aram Abrahamyan
