19:33,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS. Gardman-Shirvan-Nakhijevan Pan-Armenian Union has welcomed the Order of the International Court of Justice of November 17, which was adopted on the request filed by the Republic of Armenia within the case brought against the Republic of Azerbaijan under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The union attached great importance to the decision as its implementation could serve as a foundation for preventing similar situations in the future, noting that without such measures, ensuring peaceful and safe coexistence in the region would be impossible.
''In its Order, the Court has obliged Azerbaijan to ensure the safe, unimpeded and expeditious return of the persons who have left Nagorno-Karabakh after 19 September 2023 and who wish to return to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Moreover, according to the decision of the International Court, Azerbaijan is obliged to ensure that persons who have remained in Nagorno-Karabakh after 19 September 2023 and who wish to depart are able to do so in a safe, unimpeded and quick manner.
The Court has assigned Azerbaijan to ensure that persons who have remained in Nagorno-Karabakh after 19 September 2023 or returned to Nagorno-Karabakh and who wish to stay are free from the use of force or intimidation.
According to the decision, the Republic of Azerbaijan shall, in accordance with its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, protect and preserve registration, identity and private property documents and records, to accept them as a basis in its administrative and legislative practice.
Within 8 weeks after the publication of the decision, Azerbaijan must submit a report to the Court on the steps to be taken to ensure the implementation of the temporary measures.
We welcome this decision of the International Court of the UN, which reflects the actual and objective assessment of the realities. The decision is very important, because its implementation could serve as a foundation for preventing similar situations in the future. Without such measures, ensuring peaceful and safe coexistence in our region would be impossible.
However, one cannot but state that the ethnic cleaning in Nagorno -Karabakh after September 19 was the result of the impunity of the previously committed crimes.
Vivid evidence of this is the violent resettlement and cultural genocide of more than half a million Armenians from the historical territories of Gardman, Shirvan and Nakhijevan.
The protection of the rights of forcibly displaced Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh may serve as the best precedent, which should be applied to ethnic Armenians forcibly displaced from the historical territories of Gardman, Shirvan, and Nakhijevan in 1988 -1992.
Gardman-Shirvan-Nakhijevan Pan- Armenian Union as an organization created to restore and protect the violated rights of displaced Armenians, calls upon international human rights organizations and international courts to study the mentioned issue, provide a fair assessment and propose relevant decisions," reads the statement.