Once the protective power of Armenia
Russia is apparently withdrawing soldiers from Nagorno-Karabakh
April 17, 2024, 8:52 a.m
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Militarily, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has clearly been decided in favor of Azerbaijan. The dispute is currently in court. The former protective power of the defeated Armenia seems to be cementing this, as Russia is apparently withdrawing its peacekeepers from the region.
Russia appears to be withdrawing its peacekeepers from the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is disputed between Azerbaijan and Armenia. This is reported by the Azerbaijani website “Musavat.com”. Accordingly, the post in the Khudaveng monastery has already been handed over to the Azerbaijani police. It is said that the Khojaly base has already been evacuated. There has been no confirmation from Moscow yet. There are short videos on social media showing a long column of Russian military vehicles.
For a long time, Russia was Armenia’s protective power in the conflict with Azerbaijan. This was in turn supported by Turkey. Recently, however, Armenia felt abandoned by Moscow because the peacekeeping force did not intervene when the Azerbaijani soldiers advanced. The tone between Armenia and Russia has recently become increasingly harsh. Yerevan even suspended its membership in the Russian-dominated military alliance Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Meanwhile, the actual parties to the conflict are fighting in court.
Armenia defended itself at the International Court of Justice against Azerbaijan’s objections to a lawsuit surrounding the Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is disputed between the two sides. Azerbaijan’s objections to Armenia’s discrimination claim do not stand up to “even superficial scrutiny,” the head of the Armenian justice team, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, said in a hearing on Tuesday. The day before, the Azerbaijani side had called for the lawsuit to be dismissed – arguing, among other things, that the two states had not first entered into serious negotiations to resolve the dispute.
Racist discrimination or not
In addition, Azerbaijan’s legal representatives stated that most of the Armenian allegations did not fall under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Court therefore has no jurisdiction at all. However, a lawyer for Armenia, Alison Macdonald, argued that any allegations of violence by Azerbaijanis could at least constitute racial discrimination within the meaning of the convention.
Armenia filed a lawsuit against Azerbaijan in 2021 in the decades-long dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, accusing it of a “state-sponsored policy of hatred of Armenians” that led to “systematic discrimination, mass killings, torture and other ill-treatment.” Azerbaijan has again sued Armenia for discrimination. Armenia’s objections to the Azerbaijani lawsuit will be heard at the end of the month.
Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan under international law, but has been practically self-governing since 1994 after the end of a war between Armenian separatists against the Azerbaijani government. The ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh were supported by the government in Yerevan. In 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured some of these territories. Last year it also occupied the rest. Most of the approximately 120,000 residents fled. In December, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to peace negotiations.