Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing before UN’s top court

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CN) — Armenia told the International Court of Justice on Thursday that ethnic cleansing was underway in Nagorno-Karabakh and, without intervention from judges against Azerbaijan, tens of thousands of people would be permanently displaced. 

The pair of nations have returned to the United Nations top court for the fifth time in two years, each accusing the other of violating a decades-old treaty forbidding racial discrimination. Armenia wants The Hague-based court to issue another round of provisional measures in the case. 

According to Armenia, there are hardly any ethnic Armenians left in the contested area after thousands fled following the latest escalation. "If this isn't ethnic cleansing, I don't know what is,” Yeghishe Kirakosyan, Armenia’s agent, told the 15-judge panel in his opening remarks. 

Nagorno-Karabakh, a 1,700-square-mile area that technically falls within the borders of Azerbaijan but is overwhelmingly ethnically Armenian, has been a source of friction since the fall of the Soviet Union. 

According to Armenia’s legal team, since Azerbaijan retook Nagorno-Karabakh, it has torn down statues and changed the names of roadways, including naming a street after Talaat Pasha, who is widely considered to be the architect of the Armenian genocide. In 1915, the Ottoman Empire forced Armenians on death marches through the Syrian Desert. An estimated 1.5 million people were killed in the events that are widely viewed by scholars at the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

Lawyers for Azerbaijan denied it was engaging in ethnic cleansing and said the military activity was justified anti-terrorist operations. 

“We have, for the first time in 30 years, have full control of our own borders,” Elnur Mammadov, Azerbaijan’s agent, told the court. Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan but has been administered as an independent state since 1994 after the area declared independence. 

Following a bloody 2020 war over the South Caucasus region, the two countries each complained to The Hague-based court that the other is guilty of violating the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, or CERD, which requires signatories to take steps to end racial discrimination and promote understanding between differing nationalities, races and ethnic groups. 

Both have repeatedly asked the court to intervene while the underlying case is being considered. In February, the court ordered Baku to guarantee access to the Lachin corridor, the only road between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, as well as restore the flow of natural gas. Lawyers for Armenia say in the latest complaint that after a large-scale attack on the area, Azerbaijan reopened the highway, forcing civilians to flee. 

The court is expected to rule on the latest provisional measures requests in the coming weeks. 

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