The regular session of the Government was held under the leadership of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. At the beginning of the session, Prime Minister Pashinyan referred to the decision of the International Court of Justice regarding the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor and other issues.
In particular, the Prime Minister noted.
“Dear participants of the government session,
Dear people,
Last week, the International Court of Justice made an important decision regarding the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor. Based on the application of the Republic of Armenia, the court reaffirmed the legally binding decision made on February 22 of this year, by which it obliged Azerbaijan to take all the measures at its disposal to ensure the uninterrupted movement of people, vehicles, and cargo in both directions through the Lachin Corridor. With such a decision, the court recorded that Azerbaijan did not comply with the decision of February 22 of this year. Otherwise, there would be no need to reaffirm that previous decision.
This is an important nuance. In paragraph 28 of the decision of July 6, the court mentioned the information provided by the Armenian side that the so-called action of environmentalists is no longer taking place. Still, even now, movement through the Lachin Corridor is interrupted due to Azerbaijan’s installation of a checkpoint and noted that the essence of the matter remains the same from this. , because the consequences of the interruption of movement through the Lachin Corridor for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh are the same as in 2022. in February, therefore, the approach of the court and the legally binding decision also remain the same.
However, there are some nuanced differences between the court’s decisions of February 22 and July 6 with the same content because, in February, the government of Azerbaijan said that the environmental action was not organized by it and it was a spontaneous action of civil society, now it has no opportunity to say such a thing. Because now the Lachin Corridor is already blocked due to the actions of the state structures of Azerbaijan. And therefore, by the decision of the International Court of Justice, the responsibility of the Azerbaijani government for the deepening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh is reaffirmed and further strengthened.
However, Azerbaijan’s “environmental protection” activity continues, and even now, that country is trying to present environmental accusations to Armenia on an official and unofficial level. Moreover, for this, Azerbaijan attributes mines to Armenia that do not exist, raises circumstances that are fictitious, points to decisions that are about something completely different, and mentions conventions that are not relevant.
The public and private sector organizations of Armenia, of course, demonstrate and will continue to demonstrate the fictitious nature of Azerbaijan’s accusations. I will only refer to the following circumstance. Yale University’s Center for Environmental Policy and Law has published the 2022 ranking of the world’s most ecologically clean countries. The rating table measures the state’s achievements in terms of environmental status. It is based on 22 indicators of natural resources management and ten categories, which address environmental protection issues in terms of the ecosystem’s vitality, preservation of biodiversity, countering climate change, the health status of the population, and the burden of economic activity on the environment. , and also measure the effectiveness of state policy in the field of environmental protection. And here is 2022. in the rating, Armenia took the 56th place, and Azerbaijan – the 104th.
The progress and achievements of the Republic of Armenia in organizing a transparent and responsible mining industry are also expressed in the publications of the transparency initiative of extractive industries.
Returning to the topic of the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor and the deepening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result, I would like to emphasize that the binding decision of the International Court of Justice provides an opportunity to ensure more significant international consolidation around the issue to counter the policy of ethnic cleansing conducted by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. In this sense, the dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert within the framework of the international mechanism with the agenda of ensuring the security and rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh is critical.
Dear participants of the government session,
Dear people,
Yesterday, the fourth meeting of the Commission for Demarcation of the state border and border security of the Republic of Armenia and the state commissions for the Demarcation of the state border between Azerbaijan and Armenia took place on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan. A message has been released about it.
On Saturday, July 15, my meeting with the President of the Council of the European Union and the President of Azerbaijan is scheduled in Brussels. I have confirmed my participation in that meeting; I hope you’ll be doing well during the meeting
record in peace treaty negotiations.
Thank you.”
