At World Court, Armenia’s Lawyers Expose Azerbaijan’s Intent to Ethnically Cleanse Artsakh

Representatives of Armenia at the International Court of Justice argued on Friday before the court that statements made by President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and other high-level officials from that country demonstrated Azerbaijan’s intent to ethnically cleanse Armenians of Artsakh.

On another day of hearings at the ICJ, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, Armenia’s representative on legal matters, urged the court to reject Azerbaijan’s petition to throw out the case based on its claims that there was no evidence supporting racial discrimination.

Armenia applied to the ICJ in 2021 saying Azerbaijan is in violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

On Monday, Azerbaijan’s delegation headed by its deputy foreign minister Elnur Mammadov, asked the court to dismiss Armenia’s application in its entirety on the ground that Armenia lacked proof and failed to comply with a precondition calling for direct negotiations between the parties on the matter.

Kirakosyan cited Azerbaijan’s discriminatory murder, torture and inhumane treatment of members of Armenia’s armed forces and civilians during the active hostilities, as well as the arbitrary detention and disappearance of Armenians as grounds for the court to reject Azerbaijan’s petition.

“This week Azerbaijan disregarded the legal standards clearly established by the Court’s jurisprudence and distorted Armenia’s factual evidence. But Azerbaijan’s tactics has failed. It’s stance is not conducive to good administration of justice,” Kirakosyan said in his closing remarks.

“Armenia genuinely attempted to negotiate its claims under the CERD, but to no avail.”

“Azerbaijan’s racist violence, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances perpetrated against ethnic Armenians are plainly capable of falling within the CERD,” Kirakosyan added.

The Court will now begin its deliberation. The Court’s decision on the preliminary objections will be delivered at a public sitting, the date of which will be announced in due course.

Sean Murphy, another representative of Armenia at the International Court of Justice, argued Friday that if Azerbaijan did not pose a threat to the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh then why did more than 100,000 of its residents flee “their ancestral homes in September 2023.”

“I will not present all the statements made by President Aliyev, which have been made and which ultimately form part of our evidence. But, in our view, these statements demonstrate racial animosity, or at least at this stage of jurisdiction, they can be considered as such,” Murphy said, touching upon the widespread Armenophobia in Azerbaijan and the statements made by Aliyev directed at the Armenian people.

He added that the government of Azerbaijan generally propagates and spreads hatred against ethnic Armenians.

“If Azerbaijan is not a threat, then why did more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians, including 30,000 children, flee their ancestral homeland within a few days in September 2023?” Murphy said.

He added that it is evident that the “words of Azerbaijani officials were correctly understood by all ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. They understood that these threats were directed not only against the former leaders of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, but primarily against themselves.”

“That’s why they left their homes. The reason lies in this threat and the perception it creates, which has been developed by the Azerbaijani government for decades,” Murphy concluded.