“There is no doubt that the blockade of the Lachin Corridor and related measures are contrary to the general prohibition of discrimination. The blockade is discriminatory. It aims to prevent ethnic Armenians from exercising their rights equally with other human groups,” declared Professor Linos-Alexander Sicilianos during the oral hearing of Armenia vs. Azerbaijan at the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ). He emphasized that the blockade has a clear goal, as Aliyev stated and recorded. “It fully corresponds to the long-term policy of ethnic cleansing. Ethnic cleansing is the homogenization of an area through force or intimidation. It covers many actions, including intimidation, creating unfavorable living conditions.”
Linos-Alexander Sicilianos mentioned that it is also against the convention to support or approve discrimination by the state. He assured: “Aliyev supported and defended the actions of eco-activists, which he mentioned.” The professor stated that Armenia demands the application of an interim measure on the grounds of freedom of movement, family reunification, the right to return to one’s own country, and other settings and said: “The right of Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh to return to their country has been violated. The blockade of the Lachin Corridor is a flagrant violation of the right to leave and return to one’s own country. Any law does not define this blockade; it is arbitrary.”
Dr. Constantinos Salonidis, presenting the facts about the situation that the blockade of Azerbaijan has led to in Nagorno-Karabakh, said: “The situation remains dangerous. We are fighting on the fiftieth day. The so-called protesters control the life and death of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.” He raised the alarm that day by day, everything was getting heavier and worse. And he warned that he is afraid that all this will continue if the Court does not urgently intervene.
Read also
Professor Pierre Garzhan stated that Azerbaijan took 120,000 people hostage, making their lives impossible, bringing them to their knees, and depriving them of all means of livelihood in the middle of winter, solely because they are Armenians. Addressing the Court members, he said: “Azerbaijan can make as many arguments as it wants. No one believes their environmental fairy tales. Civil society activists in a country known as a dictatorship? No one believes.
Your Court must act and must act immediately. If you do not order interim measures, the Armenian people will soon not stay in Nagorno-Karabakh; they will leave to save their lives, as Aliyev calls them. Armenia is not asking you to order Azerbaijan to disperse the protesters by force. Considering the tripartite declaration, Azerbaijan has no right to use forces along the road. We demand that Azerbaijan stop supporting the groups that prevent free movement along the road with financial and organizational means.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
