On 22 July, The International Court of Justice made the ruling that the Kosovan declaration of independence in 2008 did not violate international law.
The fact that the international community is prepared to act in support of the interests of the people of Kosovo underlines the need for action to be taken to allow the one million refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) and seven surrounding regions to be allowed to return to their homes, European Azerbaijan Society reported.
There is no parallel between Nagorno-Karabakh and Kosovo. Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding regions were invaded by Armenian forces, and these are still in place, preventing the IDPs and refugees from returning to their homes. Unlike Kosovo, not a single country recognizes Nagorno- Karabakh, and that is why no precedent has been set. This point was recently re-echoed by Bernard Fassier, OSCE Minsk Group French Co-Chair, at the NATO PA Rose Roth seminar in Yerevan. Fassier commented: “Armenians consider Kosovo to set a precedent that should be applied to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, this is impossible – Nagorno-Karabakh remains unrecognized by any country, including Armenia”. Fassier went on to stress the difference between the conflicts. He explained: “Kosovo is a conflict inside the country, whereas Nagorno-Karabakh is a conflict between two countries – Armenia and Azerbaijan. Moreover, there were international forces in Kosovo for many years, yet there were no international forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Indeed, both the current Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan, and his predecessor, Robert Kocharyan, were born in Nagorno-Karabakh. Furthermore, Sargsyan became Armenian Defence Minister during the war in 1993, and was in charge of military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh, during which 613 Azerbaijani civilians were massacred in the town of Khojaly. The aggressive military campaign waged by Armenia has resulted in the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding districts for the past 16 years. This amounts to nearly 20 per cent of Azerbaijani territory. Whereas the international community intervened when ethnic Albanians were being cleansed from Kosovo, they remained impassive and apathetic when Azerbaijanis were the victims in Nagorno-Karabakh, undergoing ethnic cleansing by the Armenian militia. This has resulted in nearly one million Azerbaijani IDPs fleeing the region, and they remain unable to return home. Currently, four outstanding UN Security Council Resolutions call upon Armenia to withdraw its troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories: UNSCR 822, 853, 874 and 884. Thus far, these have been ignored by Armenia.
As in the case of Kosovo, where the international community intervened to halt Serbian ethnic-cleansing of the Albanian population, the international community should stop being apathetic with regard to the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Pressure must be applied to Armenia, forcing the withdrawal of its forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, enabling nearly one million IDPs to return to their homeland. The Armenian ethnic cleansing and occupation of Azerbaijani territories must be condemned universally and immediate conflict resolution achieved, in accordance with the rule of international law.
APA
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