It is another blatant attempt of Azerbaijan to divert attention from its evil deeds, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, the representative of Armenia for International Legal Affairs, stated during the trial hearing of Azerbaijan v. Armenia in The Hague.
“We have seen this mirroring tactic at all stages of other parallel proceedings in this court. Azerbaijan is still trying to create a false impression of equivalence. In particular, Azerbaijan’s petition on the application of interim measures has little semantic difference from the petition that this court rejected about a year ago. Moreover, ” Kirakosyan said, ” Azerbaijan submitted its petition only six days after the submission of Armenia’s petition, even though most of its alleged evidence was in its possession for months,” Kirakosyan said.
According to the RA representative, the ECHR, from which Azerbaijan requested to review its earlier decision, rejected the petition regarding interim measures, which Azerbaijan presented as evidence of the placement of mines by Armenia.
“Armenia has placed mines in its sovereign territory for purely defensive purposes. Armenia did this, taking into account repeated acts of aggression by Azerbaijan, the last one in September 2022. Azerbaijan’s appetite is increasing daily, using every opportunity to seize new Armenian lands by force. This state continues to hold Armenian prisoners of war and civilians as prisoners, targets civilians, and encroaches on lands inhabited by Armenians. This state is trying to justify its ongoing attempts at ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh by accusing the peacekeeping forces of merely doing their job, that is, keeping the opposing sides separate,” he said.
Kirakosyan emphasized that Azerbaijan collected the mines it complained about from the sovereign territory of Armenia, which was occupied by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in 2021 and 2022. Therefore, Azerbaijan seeks to form a false evidence base based on the mines it collected after its illegal acts of aggression to justify its petition.
