Global Courant
AMSTERDAM – Armenia has asked the World Court of Justice to order Azerbaijan to withdraw all its troops from civilian establishments in Nagorno-Karabakh and allow the United Nations access, the court said on Friday.
The World Court, formally known as the International Court of Justice, in February ordered Azerbaijan to guarantee free movement through the Lachin corridor to and from the disputed region, in what was then an interim step in legal disputes with neighboring Armenia.
More than three-quarters of the 120,000 residents of the ethnic Armenian breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh had fled on Friday afternoon after the defeat by Azerbaijan last week.
In a request for interim measures filed on Thursday, Armenia asked the court to reaffirm the orders it issued to Azerbaijan in February and order it to refrain from any actions aimed directly or indirectly at expelling the remaining ethnic Armenians from the region.
Some international experts have said that the exodus of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh meets the conditions for the war crime of “deportation or forcible transfer,” or even a crime against humanity.
The United States and others have called on Baku to allow international observers into Karabakh, citing concerns about possible human rights abuses.
Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing in Karabakh, something Baku strongly denies.
Azerbaijan has invited a United Nations mission to visit Nagorno-Karabakh “in the coming days,” the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
The World Court in The Hague is the UN court for settling disputes between countries. Its rulings are binding, but they have no immediate means to implement them. REUTERS
