Armenia`s premier not entitled to withdraw claims from international  organizations - Arman Tatoyan 

ArmInfo. Armenia's withdrawal of complaints against Azerbaijan from international structures raises an important legal issue, according to former Armenian Ombudsman, head of the Tatoyan Foundation Arman Tatoyan.

He drew attention to the fact that the head of the Armenian  government makes these statements based on his narrow interests as  the head of the ruling political force "Civil Contract", abusing the  status of the Prime Minister of Armenia and misinterpreting the  powers of the government.

"He does not have the authority to withdraw these complaints or to  exert political pressure to make such decisions. This is contrary to  the security of the Republic of Armenia and other state interests,  violates the rights of the Armenian people. Refusal to consider these  complaints imposes on the Republic of Armenia responsibility for  depriving its own citizens of protection for massive violations of  their rights, for refusing this protection and creating obstacles to  protection in the future, as well as for cleansing up the crimes of  Azerbaijan," he noted.

According to him, the refusal to file complaints cannot be  "justified" by referring to some separate, "isolated" authority.  Tatoyan is sure that this is not the case.

"Moreover, filing an interstate complaint to an international court  does not in itself imply the absolute right of the prime minister or  the government to reject it. The refusal has a completely different  legal regime in the context of an already initiated or ongoing  international legal process," Tatoyan added. The human rights  activist drew attention to the fact that the Office of the  Representative of the Republic of Armenia on International Legal  Issues is a structural unit of the Prime Minister's office, does not  mean anything.

"It was a gross mistake to make this unit part of the Prime  Minister's office, especially in the case of the current government,  for which political interests prevail over state ones. Moreover, the  statements of the head of the "Civil Contract" raise reasonable  suspicions that something similar has happened in other cases.  For  example, he or some of his political associates filed complaints to  the European Court before coming to power and now, using political  pressure, forced the Republic of Armenia to abandon its positions for  the sake of their "victory," Tatoyan noted.

The Armenian Prime Minister, in an interview with the Senior Director  of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center in Washington, touching upon  the withdrawal of mutual claims from international courts, once again  expressed his readiness to do so on condition that Azerbaijan  abandons this issue in bilateral relations.

Recall that on September 28, 2023, Armenia filed a lawsuit against  Azerbaijan in the International Court of Justice regarding the  alleged violation of the International Convention on the Elimination  of All Forms of Racial Discrimination against the Armenian population  of Nagorno-Karabakh. In addition, the Republic of Armenia submitted  four complaints to the European Court of Human Rights. One of them  concerns the crimes and human rights violations that occurred during  the 44-day 2020, the second concerns the trials of Armenian prisoners  of war in Baku. Another case concerns the invasion of the Azerbaijani  Armed Forces into the territory of Armenia and the crimes committed  here, and the last complaint concerns the blockade of  Nagorno-Karabakh, massive human rights violations and ethnic  cleansing. At the same time, Azerbaijani media, citing the country's  Foreign Ministry, reported that on November 19, 2024, the Azerbaijani  government submitted the main document of the claim against Armenia  to the Permanent Arbitration Court, accusing the Armenian side of  allegedly violating Azerbaijan's sovereign rights to energy  resources.