Azerbaijan’s behavior in all its logic contradicts the international law. Today, on 20 March, during the meeting with journalists at the National Assembly, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, RA Representative for International Legal Matters, told, talking about why Azerbaijan is not implementing the decision of the International Court of Justice regarding the opening of the Lachin Corridor.
He noted that it is not only about its non-fulfillment, but also that Azerbaijan is distorting the content of the decision, against which the state authorized bodies of the Republic of Armenia should carry out an appropriate counter-struggle, present the real content of the decision.
“The UN Security Council is the platform that is the best place to discuss similar issues, we should continue to work in that direction so that the issue may enter the agenda of the Security Council. In addition, it is necessary to work with various partner states at the bilateral level to keep the issue open and to prevent attempts to distort the content of the decision to the international community,” he said.
Yeghishe Kirakosyan mentioned that, unfortunately, we are dealing with a country, a regime that is doing everything to avoid international legal processes and continue its aggressive policy.
“The decision has a great political weight and also, I think, opens a field for political and diplomatic work. One more thing, we must understand that in international relations, we work with a different logic than the state ones, and we must try to understand the decisions with that logic. We have to arm ourselves with patience and work,” the specialist said.
He also clarified that the court did not specify specific dates, but this means that it should be done immediately.
Yeghishe Kirakosyan also detailed what is planned if Azerbaijan does not implement the decision. “Reactions have already been heard by the international community, as soon as the decision was adopted. Foreign ministries of a number of countries made calls, referring to the decision of the International Court of Justice, that this should be done, a statement was made by the Secretary General of the United Nations, etc. It is necessary to continue working in this logic, presenting the importance of the implementation of the decision. There is no other way, to work gradually; the Diaspora has its role here.
Sanctions are always possible, but they have certain preconditions for their application. The issues of sanctions have certain legal mechanisms, depending on what kind of sanctions we are talking about. I’m not ruling anything out, but it is more about gross violations of humanitarian law, war crimes or crimes against humanity. Yes, unfortunately, we have that reality, but this is work is on a slightly different level.”
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Let’s remind that on 22 March, the International Court of Justice published the decision on the request of Armenia to apply a provisisonal measure regarding the unblocking of the “Lachin Corridor”.
The court recorded that the 9 November statement of the President of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of the Russian Federation stipulates that the Lachin Corridor should provide a connection between the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as remain under the control of the Russian peacekeeping forces.
“In this case, taking into account the provisional measures requested by Armenia under the circumstances of the given case, the court concludes that the measures to be applied are not necessarily the same as the requested measures. The court concludes that Azerbaijan is obliged to take all the measures within its power to ensure the uninterrupted movement of people, vehicles and cargo in 2 directions, according to the obligations assumed by the Convention,” the decision states.
