The UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) held oral hearings in Azerbaijan vs. Armenia case. Azerbaijan also appealed to The Hague Court with the request for the application of urgent measures and demands that “the Republic of Armenia should avoid the rhetoric of racial hatred, including against organizations and individuals, and should avoid targeting people because of their Azerbaijani origin.” Azerbaijan has presented to the Court allegedly new evidence that Armenia continues to mine the territories under Azerbaijani control. Azerbaijan’s application to the UN Court stated: “New evidence has emerged that Armenia continues to lay mines in 2021 and beyond.”
According to Azerbaijan, Armenia allegedly avoids providing information about the placement of mines in the territories that have passed under the control of Azerbaijan. In particular, he demands: “Armenia should urgently take all steps to enable Azerbaijan to carry out safe demining in the settlements that have passed under the control of Azerbaijan, so that the Azerbaijani population has the opportunity to return to those settlements, in particular the regions of Lachin, Kelbajar.
Armenia should provide information, including the placement, number, and type of mines. “Armenia must refrain from any attempt to plant mines or support their planting in the territories controlled by Azerbaijan, including avoiding using the Lachin Corridor for this purpose.” “Azerbaijan appeals to the Court to stop the continuous murders of Azerbaijanis based on ethnicity and nationality through explosive devices planted by Armenia after the statement signed in November 2020,” said the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister and representative of the country at the International Court of Justice Elnur Mammadov during the oral hearing in the case of Azerbaijan vs. Armenia.
He built his entire speech on the assurance that Armenia continues to place mines in their settlements, even after November 2020. He also presented statistics that after the decision of The Hague Court on December 7, 2021; they discovered 2,700 new mines installed by the Republic of Armenia. Because of this, 282 Azerbaijanis were either killed or wounded, including 33 civilians.”
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“About the application of an interim measure: this petition of Azerbaijan has no semantic difference from the petition that this Court rejected about a year ago. Azerbaijan requested to review its earlier decision, and the ECHR rejected the petition regarding the interim measure on the laying of mines by Armenia,” said Yeghishe Kirakosyan, representative of the Republic of Armenia, in the oral hearings in the case of Armenia. According to him, Azerbaijan is thus making another apparent attempt to divert attention from its abuses.
Yeghishe Kirakosyan stated that Azerbaijan consistently implements mirror-reflection tactics. RA submits a petition, which the Azerbaijani one follows. Then he said: “Azerbaijan filed a petition for an interim measure just six days after RA filed the petition, while most of its alleged evidence was in its possession for months. Today, when RA submitted a motion to apply interim measures in connection with the humanitarian crisis, the reason for which is the ongoing attempts to suffocate the Armenian population, Azerbaijan is trying to create a false impression of equivalence.” Yeghishe Kirakosyan assured that RA placed mines in its sovereign territory for purely defensive purposes, and it did so, taking into account the repeated acts of aggression by Azerbaijan, including the last one in September 2022.
Yeghishe Kirakosyan announced in the courtroom that Azerbaijan continually demands new lands from Armenia by force. “Azerbaijan continues to keep Armenian prisoners of war and civilians in their country, encroach on the lands inhabited by Armenians, and carry out ethnic cleansing. Azerbaijan tries to justify its attempts at ethnic cleansing by blaming the peacekeeping forces for doing their job.” Yeghishe Kirrakosyan repeated: “The Republic of Armenia has not deployed mines outside its sovereign territory, especially in civilian areas, and is not trying to target Azerbaijani citizens racially. The mines that Azerbaijan is complaining about were collected from the sovereign territory of Armenia, occupied by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in 2022. It is trying to create a false evidence base based on the mines he collected after his acts of aggression to support his petition. This petition is not only full of cynicism but also baseless. I hope the Court will not allow the court proceedings to be abused by trying to take advantage of the consequences of its illegal actions.”
Responding to the statements of Azerbaijani legal advisers that RA does not want to negotiate, the fact that it did not participate in the December 23, 2022 meeting, Yeghishe Kirakosyan said: “The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia has publicly announced that the Republic of Armenia has notified that it will not be able to participate in the meeting and has asked to postpone the meeting. Moreover, the problem of landmines was not even included in the agenda of that meeting. So it has nothing to do with this proceeding.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
