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By Len Wicks on
read10 min
Azerbaijan, noted by Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders as having
a poor track record on human rights, has committed ethnic cleansing against a
group of indigenous Armenians while the world has remained silent. Former Chief
Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo reported that
Baku’s siege of the former Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) is deemed illegal by the
International Court of Justice, as being consistent with Article II (c) of the
Genocide Convention:
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring
about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Why should people care? Besides inflicting suffering on the innocent Armenians
of Artsakh, this egregious act has also essentially undermined the so-called
‛rules-based international order’ and has emboldened dictators to use force to
solve political conflicts. The Caucasus could now face a regional war, sucking
in Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Israel while China is undoubtedly taking note with
Taiwan in its sights.
The authoritarian Azerbaijani regime that invaded Armenia in 2021 and 2022, and
which illegally holds Armenian Prisoners of War, has committed sadistic war
crimes like beheadings and bombing of churches and inculcates state-sponsored
racism against Armenians, is trying to justify its actions. It falsely portrays
people subjected to a starvation-inducing blockade as akin to the 1930s
Ukrainian Holodomor and the September 19, 2023 military attack as leaving lands
where they lived for thousands of years “voluntarily.”
Until now, Azerbaijan has been able to control the narrative, using tools like
the infamous Azerbaijan Laundromat bribery scheme of politicians and media, to
avoid the West’s scrutiny of the fact that it is a Russian ally, and even helps
Russia to avoid sanctions by re-selling Russian gas. Baku calls Armenians
“separatists,” and “rebels.” Even Western media use inappropriate terms to
describe Artsakh as “breakaway” or “separatist.” This is an injustice because
Artsakh’s bid for democracy and freedom from Azerbaijan’s human rights abuse was
not a case of separatism.
The First Republic of Armenia was established in 1918 during the Russian
Empire’s collapse. Artsakh was part of the predominantly Christian nation
Armenia, which was recognized as a de jure sovereign state by the Great Powers
in 1920. Unlike Armenia, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic 1918-20 was not
recognized as being sovereign (not even by the Ottoman Empire, nor by the League
of Nations). As a self-declared de facto entity without recognized territory,
Baku had no legal claim to Armenia or Artsakh.
Following the illegal Soviet invasion of sovereign Armenia in late 1920, in 1921
Stalin transferred Artsakh, populated 95% by Armenians, from the Armenian Soviet
Socialist Republic (SSR) to the Azerbaijan SSR as an autonomous oblast. This is
despite the fact that on November 30, 1920, the Azerbaijan SSR had already
recognized Nagorno Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhichevan as being part of Soviet
Armenia! Stalin’s “divide and rule” policy has caused conflict between Armenia
and Azerbaijan ever since.
During Stalin’s reign, he ignored multiple racist-based pogroms and massacres,
including the Armenian genocide-era 1920 Shushi massacre by Azerbaijanis that
killed 20,000 Armenians and the ethnical cleansing of this Artsakh city.
Armenia’s longstanding wariness of their eastern neighbor is therefore
understandable.
However, there are two critical points as to why Stalin’s decision to transfer
Artsakh to Soviet Azerbaijan is irrelevant to Artsakh’s sovereign status:
The Azerbaijan SSR was only a non-sovereign province of the Soviet Union, and as
such had no right to claim territory by itself under Westphalian sovereignty (no
rule by another party); and
Azerbaijan itself did not claim any sovereign rights from the Azerbaijan SSR
period; instead on August 30th, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan enacted a
Declaration On the Restoration of the State Independence of the Republic of
Azerbaijan on the basis of the unrecognized and non-sovereign Azerbaijan
Democratic Republic of 1918-20!
The first time that Azerbaijan became a sovereign, de jure state able to claim
internationally recognized “territorial integrity” was on December 26, 1991, at
the fall of the Soviet Union. According to the UN Charter, “territorial
integrity” is only relevant to external threats such as invasion and does not
conflict with the self-determination rights of people. This was a pivotal moment
in history, three years after Nagorno Karabakh had legally separated from the
Azerbaijan SSR province by formal referendum. It was also after a vote of 99.9%
in a 1991 referendum (82.1% voter turnout) to support an independence
declaration for Artsakh (and the Shahumyan region) from the USSR itself on
September 02, 1991, in accordance with USSR Secession Law (Articles 3 and 5).
When the Soviet Union and its laws were declared void on December 26, 1991, two
legal entities emerged from the former Azerbaijan SSR’s territory. Both had
“clean sheet” rights under Westphalian sovereignty, consistent with the
Montevideo Convention. Thus, the territory and people that each controlled were
a vital aspect prior to the final step before sovereignty – international
recognition.
Unfortunately, and despite the July 7th, 1988 European Parliament’s support for
Artsakh’s reunification with Armenia due to ongoing pogroms and massacres
against Armenians, the West ignored Article 1 of the ICCPR international law on
self-determination that it has since granted to many others. This can only be
explained as Western ignorance or self-interested geopolitics, as there can be
no logical reason for denying the democratic Artsakh people their rights under
international law while recognizing others such as Montenegro (recognized by
Turkey and Azerbaijan), South Sudan (recognized by Azerbaijan), and Kosovo and
Timor-Leste (Recognized by Turkey).
With the exception of Montenegro, these are all cases of “separatism” from a
parent sovereign state that still existed. As noted, Artsakh is not a case of
separatism, as the parent state (the USSR) no longer existed when it attempted
to reunify with Armenia. Therefore, Artsakh had exactly the same rights to
declare independence as Azerbaijan, under the relevant former Soviet and
international laws.
Of course, Azerbaijan would have everyone believe that once a state is
sovereign, then there can never be any changes to its internationally recognized
borders. If that were the case, then Azerbaijan would not exist, as it was part
of a sovereign Persian Empire (now Iran). Some might also assume that because
the former Nagorno- Karabakh’s borders were within Azerbaijan’s borders, then it
must be part of Baku’s territory, but they have obviously never seen a map of a
sovereign Lesotho!
Moreover, when post-Soviet leaders agreed to the December 21, 1991 Alma-Ata
Protocol’s (non-binding) Preamble that recognized the ‟…territorial integrity of
each other and inviolability of the existing borders” the “existing borders”
must, by definition, include the legally established borders of Artsakh!
The failure of the world to recognize Artsakh in 1991, and to take
Responsibility to Protect action (R2P), led directly to the First Artsakh War.
Tens of thousands needlessly lost their lives after Baku’s invasion, aided by
Soviets during the first years of the war. Azerbaijan committed multiple war
crimes and spread disinformation during this war, including, as the evidence
strongly indicates, the massacre of its own Khojaly citizens near the Azeri-held
city of Aghdam, so it could falsely blame Armenians.
UN Security Council resolutions did not address the status of Nagorno-Karabakh
or even determine the extent of the territory concerned, as the UN Security
Council had mandated the OSCE Minsk Group to facilitate a peaceful settlement of
the conflict in this officially disputed territory. Azerbaijan has repeatedly
ignored its responsibilities under these Resolutions and the 1994 Ceasefire,
including cessation of blockade, rendering them virtually redundant. It seems
that nothing has changed.
The Nagorno-Karabakh authorities were officially signatories for all ceasefire
agreements, which means Azerbaijan de facto recognized Artsakh as an entity – a
key step to sovereignty.
Azerbaijani President Aliyev had agreed to the Lachin Corridor allowing
unhindered access in both directions as part of the Russian-brokered November
9th, 2020 ceasefire. However, Russian “peacekeepers” empowered by the ceasefire
effectively became jailers, supporting Azerbaijan’s genocidal blockade by not
intervening to ensure Baku’s compliance. Refugees interviewed by the author even
confirmed that Russia was given a day’s notice of Azerbaijan’s September 19th,
2023 invasion, while the Kremlin misinformed the world that they only had a few
minute’s notice!
Of deep concern are allegations of possible mass executions of civilians by the
Azerbaijani Army in four villages on September 19, 2023, which may have been
witnessed by Russian peacekeepers at Dzhanyatag. The Russians were reportedly
killed, for reasons that have been downplayed by the Kremlin. These Bucha
massacre-like war crime allegations must be fully investigated by an independent
body.
Azerbaijan’s goal is not just the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, but the
occupation of Armenia. Azerbaijani authorities have openly communicated this for
decades. For example, in 2005 the mayor of Baku at a meeting with German
officials stated: “Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians. You,
Nazis, already eliminated the Jews in the 1930s and 40s, right? You should be
able to understand us.” In 2004, Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister’s spokesperson
stated: “Within the next 25 years there will be no state of Armenia in the South
Caucasus.” President Aliyev has also been consistently vocal about his genocidal
intentions against Armenians.
The 2020 Artsakh War had significant geopolitical implications and affected
regional stability, even drawing Syrian mercenaries transported by Turkey.
Emboldened with their victory in 2020, Azerbaijan now seeks to force, by
military means, a sovereign corridor through southern Armenia, with regional war
implications, as this would cut off a vital trade route for India and Iran.
The proclamation by an unelected Artsakh authority that Artsakh would cease to
exist on January 1st, 2024, was made under duress without the democratic will of
its people and is therefore illegal. Artsakh had a stronger legal case to be
recognized as independent than separatist examples like Kosovo. However, the
international community’s cynical silence on the genocide by starvation for
nearly ten months followed by the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh Armenians and its
tacit support of Azerbaijan’s genocidal dictatorship for its polluting oil and
gas money as well as transferring Russian gas to Europe is testimony to the
failure of the “international order.” Even the UN and the Vatican were
shamefully silent.
The world’s R2P failure has also allowed the Kremlin to treat Armenians as pawns
in its geopolitical games once again. In response, Armenia ratified the Rome
Convention that created the International Criminal Court, which has indicted
Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is clear that Russia is no longer an ally
of Armenia; quite the reverse, in fact.
As the “Leader of the Free World,” the United States has shamefully done no
better than the Kremlin. It has funded Azerbaijan to support a proxy war with
Iran, while successive presidential administrations have presented these actions
to Congress as preventing terrorism in order to justify a Section 907 waiver,
opening the door to direct US aid to Azerbaijan where previously Azerbaijan was
ineligible. The United States and its allies must now protect Armenia against
the consequences of its actions, which effectively supported ethnic cleansing
and coerced a naïve Armenian government to abandon Armenians of Artsakh.
Magnitsky-style sanctions must be imposed on Azerbaijani officials in charge of
orchestrating war crimes and genocide against Armenians to signal the
unacceptability of ethnic cleansing, as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for
European and Eurasian Affairs Yuri Kim said just five days before Azerbaijan
ethnically cleansed Artsakh. Internationally experienced lawyers should
immediately work on the case of investigating and prosecuting Azerbaijan’s
dictator Aliyev for committing genocide at the International Criminal Court.
In order to undo the grave injustice perpetrated against Artsakh’s Armenians,
the civilized world must first recognize their immense loss of life, economic
viability, and irreplaceable cultural heritage. Crimes such as these demand
substantial compensation and a pathway to restoration.
Azerbaijan is a corrupt and unstable dictatorship that oppresses its own people
and is potentially threatened by both Iran and Russia, with Russia having lost
influence in the region due to Turkish infiltration into the South Caucasus.
Artsakh met all legal provisions for international recognition, given what
should have been Azerbaijan’s actual legally claimable territory at the USSR’s
fall.
Therefore, Artsakh’s people should never give up the hope of returning to their
ancient homeland as a free and independent nation with international
peacekeepers, if the opportunity permits, by establishing a government-in-exile.
The West must restore confidence in the international order by recognizing the
egregious error committed by allowing Azerbaijan’s illegal annexation of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Otherwise, the world will stand on the abyss of a global
conflict, where the law of the jungle prevails.
Armenia | Azerbaijan | Crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh | Europe & Eurasia | Genocide
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Armenian Genocide | Azerbaijan | Christians | Ethnic Cleansing | Genocide |
International Court of Justice (ICJ) | Nagorno-Karabakh (Republic of Artsakh)
Dual national Australian/New Zealander Len Wicks has a background in aviation
management, aviation safety audit and management, tourism, and international
conventions and relations, having worked in New Zealand, Oman (during the 1st
Gulf War) and Thailand (for the United Nations).
The Singaporean government engages Mr. Wicks as a special advisor. He is the
co-owner of a resort complex in Armenia, which is a base for the charity he
founded (Adopt-a-Village).
Mr. Wicks authored, inter alia, the trilogy novel Origins: Discovery and an
expose on the Khojaly Massacre, which was published by the Armenian National
Academy of Science. He also has two patents and an interest in renewable energy,
with new designs for a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine and a green hydrogen system
intended to decarbonize seawater.
In his private life, Mr. Wicks is a human rights activist focused on genocide
awareness. He vlogs on YouTube under Straight Talk from the Homeland and on X at
@OriginsD.