“We cannot underestimate the danger when one country uses its armed forces against the sovereign territory of another country,” said Thomas McDonnell, the Assistant Dean for External Affairs at Pace University, during a video conference entitled “Artsakh: Two years after the attack of Azerbaijan” organized by the Armenian Congress of America, referring to the aggression carried out by Azerbaijan against the sovereign territory of Armenia. Referring to the demarcation and delimitation process, he mentioned, “It is a fact that the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan has not been definitively demarcated. What was carried out by Azerbaijan is aggression against Armenia, which is defined by the UN resolution, which excludes the use of force by one country against the territorial integrity of another.”
He compared this attack to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thomas McDonnell stated that there was an attack on the sovereign territory of Armenia, during which a number of civil infrastructures were also damaged. Then he noted with regret that the situation has not improved in the last two years. It has worsened, as the aggression and violence continue. According to him, it is necessary to get the international community to condemn what Azerbaijan is doing. Speaking about this issue, Thomas McDonnell reminded that Azerbaijan has huge gas resources.
Thomas McDonnell emphasized the use of resources of international courts and stated, “We must use the resources of various international organizations. The International Court of Justice has recorded the discriminatory attitude towards ethnic Armenians, the ECHR has applied an intermediate measure, which can play a sobering role in Azerbaijan.”
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Summing up, Thomas McDonnell spoke about the steps that should be taken and stated: “First of all, there should be international condemnation regarding the Azerbaijani aggression against the sovereign territory of Armenia in the last few weeks. The international community must condemn Azerbaijan’s policy of ethnic cleansing as a crime against humanity. The international community must agree on this issue in order to prevent the repetition of what happened during the Armenian Genocide.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
