President of the Armenian Unions of Europe and the Armenian Community of Slovakia DR Ashot Grigorian presents the expert opinion of the former Deputy Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, Prime Minister of Slovakia, Minister of Justice Ján Čarnogurský in response to the appeal of Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan to world organizations.
Your Excellency
Arayik Harutyunyan
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President of the Republic of Artsakh
Stepanakert
Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh
Bratislava, August 15, 2023
Your Excellency Mr. President,
In response to your letter dated August 8, 2023 regarding the actions carried out under the responsibility of the government of Azerbaijan, which are related to the soldiers sent by them to the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, I express the following opinion.
- The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in its current de facto and legal status is the result of violent and revolutionary changes that took place in the territory of the former Russian Empire after the end of the First World War and continued after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The inhabitants of the territory of the current Nagorno-Karabakh Republic have been Armenians for centuries. They differ from the inhabitants of the Republic of Azerbaijan on religious grounds: Armenians are Christians, Azerbaijanis are Muslims. In particular, the two circumstances mentioned, nationality and religion, led to violent clashes between the two social groups. They have lived in Nagorno-Karabakh for thousands of years and are well aware of the infamous Armenian Genocide organized by the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1917. The Turkish and Muslim population was the majority in the Ottoman Empire and since the establishment of the Republic of Azerbaijan (1918) and used their numerical superiority to attack the Armenians. Attacks almost always ended in violence and the killing of Armenians. Neither the mission nor the possibilities of this text allow me to list at least a small part of the violence against the Armenians now living in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, therefore, I only point to the attachment to your letter, a report entitled “Massive and serious violations leading to genocide in the Republic Artsakh“.
- Due to the historical background and ongoing crimes against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh by state officials of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh cannot trust and cannot rely on Azerbaijan to provide the vital functions of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Persons holding important political positions in Azerbaijan have previously publicly stated that their goal is the depopulation of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Aliyev confirmed that “Armenians will either take Azerbaijani citizenship without fail or leave Karabakh.”
In connection with these facts, historically, the situation has developed that goods, services and the main communication of Nagorno-Karabakh are carried out with Armenia, and this is possible only through the Lachin corridor. On November 9, 2020, the Presidents of Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation and the Prime Minister of Armenia signed an agreement according to which the Lachin corridor should remain free for civil traffic. Back in December 2022, under the pretext of protecting the environment, Azerbaijani citizens stopped traffic along the Lachin corridor, and on June 15, 2023, the Azerbaijani army completely stopped traffic along the Lachin corridor. They violated the agreement of the presidents and the prime minister of November 9, 2020.
The state bodies of Azerbaijan supported the illegal actions of the soldiers, maybe even gave them an order. By interrupting transport links along the Lachin corridor, Azerbaijan has put Nagorno-Karabakh in a situation of shortage of goods and life support services. Children and people with health problems are dying in Nagorno-Karabakh, but the soldiers of the Azerbaijani army do not allow humanitarian cargo to be transported from Armenia through the Lachin corridor. Other ground transportation from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh is currently not possible, air transportation is also blocked by Azerbaijan. If the current situation continues, the death toll will increase so much that armed conflict will resume as a result.
- According to the Agreement “On the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 8, 1948 260, Article II. letter c/, genocide is the deliberate destruction of a group by creating conditions of life aimed at its complete or partial physical destruction.
By closing the Lachin corridor, the conditions created by the Republic of Azerbaijan for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh lead to its physical destruction. Responsibility for creating such conditions lies with the state bodies of Azerbaijan, which perform these functions. The situation created by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh supports the definition of genocide by international symbols. The state bodies of Azerbaijan bear responsibility in accordance with the international convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
- The International Criminal Court in The Hague was set up to (also) punish the crime of genocide. The judicial practice of the court allows at least preliminary powers (initiation of a criminal case), which it interprets quite broadly.
Also, his practice shows that in order to exercise his powers, he does not require recognition of the court by the state against whose citizen he initiated a criminal case. I consider it possible to initiate a criminal case against the state bodies of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the International Criminal Court for creating conditions that led to an existential crisis in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ján Čarnogurský
Former Deputy Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia
Former Prime Minister of Slovakia
Former Minister of Justice of Slovakia
