Armenia responsible for illegal activities in occupied territories of Azerbaijan
By Rashid Shirinov
Armenia is responsible for illegal economic and other activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev said at a press conference on July 23.
He noted that the legal opinion provides for legal accountability for the illegal actions of Armenia and third parties, which are classified in the following areas: establishment of settlements and movement of population in the occupied territories; exploitation of natural resources of Azerbaijan and trade in them; economic and financial activities; changes in infrastructure, operation of telecommunications network; change in the cultural heritage of the occupied territories; development of tourism, as well as the organization of illegal visits and other activities.
“Armenia is responsible for internationally wrongful acts in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, some of which are serious violations of the obligations arising from the peremptory norms of general international law,” Hajiyev said.
He added that these include the use of force to actually separate Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia in violation of the Charter of the United Nations; as a consequence, violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan; ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, including establishment of settlements and displacement of the population, leading to a change in the demographic composition of these territories; flagrant violation of the law of belligerent occupation; exploitation of natural resources in the occupied territories disregarding the priority of the interests of the population (before the ethnic cleansing of the region); change in the cultural heritage of the region.
“In accordance with the legal opinion of peremptory norms of international law, the above-mentioned serious violations require the application of special implications arising from aggravating responsibility: non-recognition of the situation created by such violations; prohibition of assistance in maintaining such a situation; exclusion of any immunities for those responsible for such violations,” Hajiyev said.
Another consequence of this aggravating responsibility, he noted, is that all states have an obligation to hold Armenia accountable and to take action against it, including through sanctions, criminal prosecution and civil proceedings.
“In international relations and the process of conflict resolution, the rule of law is a prerequisite. We call upon the entire international community, relevant international organizations, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries, foreign legal entities and individuals to take note of the “Legal opinion on third party obligations with respect to illegal economic and other activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan” and other fundamental legal reports submitted by Azerbaijan on the legal aspects of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the spokesman concluded.
Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on the country. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
To this day, Armenia has not implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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