THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Lawyers for Azerbaijan on Monday asked the United Nations’ top court to reject a case filed by Armenia related to the long-running dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, saying judges lacked jurisdiction .
Armenia filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice in 2021, accusing Azerbaijan of a “state-sponsored policy of Armenian hatred” that led to “systemic discrimination, mass killings, torture and other ill-treatment.”
The legal dispute stems from long-standing tensions that led to a war over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 that killed more than 6,600 people. The region lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of a separatist war in 1994.
Armenia’s case is based on an international convention on the elimination of racial discrimination, which contains a clause allowing disputes to be resolved by the World Court if bilateral negotiations do not result in an agreement.
However, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov told judges on Monday that Armenia could not bring the dispute to the court in The Hague, arguing that the two countries had not initially begun serious negotiations.
“Armenia had fully intended to initiate this procedure in court and use the effect of this procedure to conduct a public media campaign against Azerbaijan,” Mammadov said.
International law professor Stefan Talmon, who represents Azerbaijan, added that Armenia “never gave the negotiations a chance.”
He told the court that “without negotiations and without serious attempts to negotiate, this essentially means the end of Armenia’s application.”
Azerbaijan also argued that most of the allegations in the Armenia case fell outside the scope of the Discrimination Convention, meaning the court lacked jurisdiction.
Armenia is expected to respond to Azerbaijan’s arguments on Tuesday.
Azerbaijan has also filed a lawsuit against Armenia in the World Court for alleged violations of the same convention. The objections filed by Armenia to Azerbaijan’s case will be heard later this month.
The 2020 conflict ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that gave Azerbaijan control over parts of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as some adjacent areas.
Azerbaijan waged a lightning-fast military campaign in Nagorno-Karabakh last year, leading to the displacement of the vast majority of the region’s 120,000 residents.
In December, both sides agreed to begin negotiations on a peace treaty. However, many residents of Armenia’s border regions have resisted the demarcation efforts, seeing it as an encroachment by Azerbaijan into areas they consider their own.
Armenia’s prime minister said last month that the Caucasus nation must quickly establish its border with Azerbaijan to avoid a new round of hostilities.