Lawyer: Armenians of Artsakh flee their ancestral homeland under  blows of Azerbaijan`s "iron fist" 

ArmInfo. The entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh, more than 100 thousand Armenians, were forced to leave their homes. It's not that they just took their things and left, leaving everything behind.

They had very compelling reasons for this. Lawrence Martin, one of the lawyers representing  the RA lawsuit, stated this on October 12 in The Hague during a hearing at the International Court of Justice in the framework of the lawsuit "Armenia vs Azerbaijan" on the application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

"They left the homeland of their ancestors under the blows of the  "iron fist" of Azerbaijan. Even before the blockade imposed since  December 2022, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that Armenians  are dogs who must be driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh. The ethnic  Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh know well this policy of Azerbaijan,  where children are taught from the cradle to hate Armenians. In  school textbooks they write that Armenians must be hated and that the  blood of Satan flows in their veins.

In addition, we remember the murder of an Armenian soldier by an  Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov during a NATO training in Budapest.  Safarov hacked him to death with an ax and tried to kill another  Armenian officer. And Aliyev rewarded him for this and gave him a  salary for 8 years. Now he is a role model and a hero there," Mr.  Martin noted, recalling the 44-day war and the atrocities committed,  numerous shots of mockery of civilians and prisoners of war. The  lawyer also recalled the so-called Trophy Park in Baku, where  Armenians were represented in a humiliating manner.

"Although Azerbaijan, as part of the tripartite statement of November  9, 2020, pledged to provide the opportunity for Armenians to return  to the territories that had come under their control, this did not  happen.  Moreover, several more villages in the Lachin corridor were  de-Armenized. Azerbaijan even issued a stamp on  the "disinfection"  of Karabakh from Armenians," he said, providing footage of the stamp.

At the same time, Mr.  Martin emphasized that the latest developments  around Nagorno-Karabakh are the culmination of a process that was  preceded by the blockade. "Azerbaijan has not complied with the  previous decision of the Court to allow unimpeded passage of people  and goods along the Lachin corridor.  Azerbaijan refused to comply  with the Court's decision, despite calls from the international  community. On April 23, Azerbaijan established an illegal checkpoint  in the corridor. And after June 15, the transportation of any cargo  was prohibited due to the fact that Armenia did not allow the  installation of the Azerbaijani flag at the checkpoint. Then the  Azerbaijanis accused the ICRC of smuggling. As a result, the Armenian  population did not receive any food or medicine at all from mid-June  to mid-September.

Azerbaijan cut off the supply of gas and electricity. The  international community continued to condemn.  Azerbaijani soldiers  continued to fire at villagers in the fields near the border. At the  height of the agricultural season, they conducted active shelling to  prevent the harvest," the lawyer said, noting that by September 18,  on the eve of the aggression, there were already cases of starvation  in Artsakh.

"On September 18, the ICRC and the RPC were allowed to import  humanitarian cargo through Lachin and Aghdam. The whole world  welcomed this. There was a feeling that the issue could be resolved.  But already on September 19, Azerbaijan began aggression, calling it  an "anti-terrorist operation," he said, noting that the Azerbaijani  side has been preparing the ground for this aggression for several  months through information leaks.

"Azerbaijan shelled peaceful cities and villages, not allowing  journalists in, it created an information vacuum. During the  aggression, children and women died. Cases of torture and  dismemberment were recorded. Families were separated. People spent  the night in basements and on the streets, in shelters. Many of them  took refuge in RPC base," the lawyer said, accompanying his speech  with a demonstration from social networks of footage of how  Azerbaijanis commented on the search for missing Armenian children,  footage of killed military and civilians.

At the same time, he noted that the flight of the Armenians was  chaotic, and the people were unable to take either things or  property. "The traffic jam stretched for 75 km. Many elderly people  died in it. At the checkpoint, Azerbaijani soldiers insulted the  Armenians and showed the sign of "gray wolves." On September 25, a  fuel tank exploded. 170 people died, hundreds were injured. Some  received help from the RPC, some died during transportation to  Armenia. Many died due to lack of medical care. There are more than a  hundred thousand refugees. For Armenia, which has a population of  less than 3 million, this is a very difficult task. It must also be  taken into account that many refugees in the past have already become  refugees due to the fault of Azerbaijan" , said the lawyer.

He also noted that, according to UNICEF experts, many of the 30  thousand children who left Artsakh suffer from mental problems as a  result of what happened.

"Azerbaijan claims that the Armenians left voluntarily. We will  probably hear this in the afternoon. But? In the case of Azerbaijan,  every statement is a kind of confession. One hundred thousand people,  for no apparent reason, left their homes, got up and left? this is  hard to believe. What sane person would decide to stay under a regime  that spreads hatred towards Armenians. In Azerbaijan they like to  refer to Aliyev's statements about the protection of the rights of  all citizens, and the absence of problems with the Armenian people.  This is the same person who called the Armenians an enemy. Because  peace "can afford not to trust Aliyev. The Armenians were right to  leave Nagorno-Karabakh," Martin added.  He also noted that the  Azerbaijani authorities arrested 8 former officials, including 3  presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh, and another 300 were put on the  wanted list. "Azerbaijan renamed one of the streets in Stepanakert in  honor of Enver Pasha, one of the architects of the Armenian Genocide.  Azerbaijani soldiers wear on their uniforms a badge with the image of  Enver and the inscription - "Armenian, don't run, you will still die,  but tired." Armenian symbols are being destroyed, crosses are blown  up, monasteries are shelled, for example, in the village of Charekar.  Azerbaijan has already begun to actively populate Nagorno-Karabakh.  And against the backdrop of all of the abovementioned, the UN mission  did not see traces of shelling of houses. In general, it is difficult  to call it a mission. It was in Nagorno-Karabakh for less than a day  and had no opportunity to find out something. Obviously, this is the  result of the creativity of the mission coordinator in Baku. And who  and how chose the areas of the city to visit? They themselves  admitted that they were limited in their movements," he said.

In turn, Professor Linos-Alexander Sicilianos said that Armenia  demands to protect the rights of more than 100 thousand who left  Nagorno-Karabakh, the few who remained there, as well as those who  are being held by Azerbaijan.

"The entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh was forced to leave the  region due to damage to the infrastructure, the use of force for  expulsion, and the lack of conditions for return. Living conditions  for those who remained, and these are elderly and sick people, were  not created. Violations of rights and racial discrimination on the  part of Azerbaijan are obvious.

Aliyev stated that ethnic Armenians would not have special status or  privileges. The practice of ethnic cleansing is widespread.  Azerbaijan has arrested former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh and  announced its intention to arrest 300 more people. How can people  trust the authorities in the absence of monitoring, when the  authorities of this country have tortured and subjected Armenians to  extrajudicial punishment for years? Azerbaijan is taking active steps  to ensure that there is no point in returning. An international  convention protects cultural heritage. Despite this, Azerbaijan  destroyed the cross over Stepanakert and is destroying cemeteries and  monasteries. The rights to social protection and medical care have  been violated.  And although international conventions prohibit  selective treatment on national and racial grounds, Azerbaijan is  doing the opposite," the professor emphasized. Let us recall that  last week the Armenian government appealed to the International Court  of Justice with a request to apply an interim measure in the case  against Azerbaijan.

Armenia called on the UN court to confirm Azerbaijan's commitment to  renouncing "any action directly or indirectly aimed at expelling the  remaining ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh." Yerevan expects  Baku "to refrain from taking punitive measures against current or  former political representatives or military personnel of  Nagorno-Karabakh."

According to the latest appeal from Armenia, on September 19,  Azerbaijan, in violation of the truce, committed aggression against  Nagorno-Karabakh and targeted the civilian population. As of  September 27, tens of thousands of Armenians left their homes in  Nagorno-Karabakh.  Azerbaijan asked to postpone the hearing scheduled  for October 12, but the court decided to maintain the established  schedule.

The representative of Armenia speaks during the morning hearing. The  representative of Azerbaijan will speak in the afternoon hearing,  which will begin at 4:00 p.m., 2 hours each.