Azerbaijan urges UN International Court of Justice to condemn Armenia's crimes against Azerbaijanis

Baku/24.01.23/Turan: The Azerbaijani government on 23 January filed a Main Statement of Claim against Armenia with the International Court of Justice, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The lawsuit was filed in accordance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination," the Ministry said.

The document is based on "thousands of pages of evidence recording details of Azerbaijanis killed, expelled and harmed as a result of ethnic cleansing carried out by Armenia," it said.

Armenia's policy and actions of ethnic discrimination, the illegal occupation of Azerbaijani territories for nearly 30 years have prevented Azerbaijani citizens from returning home - to the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. To date, hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons are still unable to return to their homes.

"During the occupation, as well as during the retreat in 2020, Armenia completely destroyed cities such as Fizuli, Agdam, Jebrail, Gubadly, Zangilan and Kelbajar, pursuing a 'scorched earth' policy there.

Following the occupation of Azerbaijani territories in the early 1990s, Armenia razed 95% of structures in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan to the ground.  

The Armenian policy of discrimination also manifested itself in the destruction of civilian sites and settlements using explosives and mines. Since the end of the 44-day war, 282 Azerbaijanis have been killed or seriously wounded by landmines.

On the basis of the evidence presented, Azerbaijan demanded that the court hold Armenia responsible for the mass violations of the rights of Azerbaijanis.

In particular, Azerbaijan asks the International Court of Justice to hold the Armenian government responsible for ethnic cleansing, killing, torture, destruction of Azerbaijani cultural heritage.

The Azerbaijani side underlines the importance of Armenia's commitment to disclose information about the missing Azerbaijanis (during the first Karabakh war), return all the illegally seized property and lands to Azerbaijanis, stop hate speech and bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations during the thirty years, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. -06В-