Armenia and Azerbaijan clashed on Thursday before the highest court of the UN, with Yerevan accusing Baku, which denies it, of engaging in “ethnic cleansing” in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The face-to-face before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) comes just a few weeks after the lightning offensive by Azerbaijani forces in September. Since then, almost the entire Armenian population has fled the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which announced its dissolution on 1er January 2024.
“Although ethnic Armenians made up the vast majority of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh for millennia, today almost none remain in the region,” said Yeghishe Kirakosyan, Armenia’s representative to of the ICJ. “If this isn’t ethnic cleansing, I don’t know what is,” he argued.
Responding on behalf of Azerbaijan, Representative Elnur Mammadov rejected “unfounded” accusations. They “do not reflect the reality of what really happened,” he added. “Azerbaijan has not and will not engage in ethnic cleansing or any form of attack against the population of Karabakh,” he assured.
Yerevan requested that the court order Azerbaijan to “withdraw all military and police personnel from all civilian establishments in Nagorno-Karabakh occupied since its armed attack on September 19, 2023,” according to the ICJ.
Yerevan also asked the court to order Baku to “refrain […] to prevent the safe and rapid return to their homes of people displaced during the recent military attack […] while allowing those who wish to leave Nagorno-Karabakh without hindrance.”
After the end of the Russian Empire, this mountainous region populated mainly by Armenians, who consider it ancestral, found itself within the borders of Azerbaijan. It unilaterally proclaimed its independence in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union, with the support of Armenia.
Nagorno-Karabakh separatists have opposed Baku for more than three decades, notably during two wars, held between 1988 and 1994 and in the fall of 2020. The international community has never recognized the self-proclaimed republic.
Long battle
Thursday’s hearings at the Peace Palace in The Hague are the latest in a long legal battle between the two rivals.
In January, Yerevan accused Azerbaijan before the ICJ of carrying out a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” to rid Nagorno-Karabakh of its Armenian population. Claims rejected by Baku, which called on the territory’s Armenian residents to stay and “reintegrate” into Azerbaijan.
Armenian lawmakers this month approved a key step toward joining another international court based in The Hague: the International Criminal Court (ICC). A move that infuriated Russia, a traditional ally that Armenia has accused of failing in its obligations, as the ICC this year issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for the alleged kidnappings of children in the context of the invasion of Ukraine.
In February 2023, the court ordered Azerbaijan to ensure free movement in the Lachin corridor, a vital road axis for supplying the population of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia.
The ICJ judges disputes between states. Its decisions are final, but it has no means of enforcing them.