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REFUGEES OF ARMENIA, SUE AZERBAIJAN!
February 27 2013
There is a strong influx of lawsuits from Azerbaijan into the European
Court of Human Rights. Azerbaijan makes the best of the factor of
refugees. According to Tigran Ter-Yesayan, the director of Forum, a
human rights center, Armenia will be subpoenaed to the European Court
soon and will have to defend itself. What do we - more than a million
refugees who have been forced to flee to Armenia from the territories
occupied by Azerbaijan - do? According to Tigran Ter-Yesayan,
"Not only we occupied territories, in Oskanian's words, but also
Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan should accept all our occupied territories
starting from Artsvashen. If we talk about territorial integrity and
the right to self-determination, then those are different things.
Azerbaijan conquered our territories. It was encroachment on our
territorial integrity. Self-determination is Artsakh's problem;
therefore, let them apply to the state of Artsakh regarding that
issue. We are not entitled to defend Artsakh against Azerbaijan as a
respondent in the ECHR. If they want us to be a respondent, let them
acknowledge Artsakh as a party and let Artsakh, as such, go and defend
itself in the ECHR. The Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan are members
of the Council of Europe. Our refugees should sue Azerbaijan. Every
refugee of the Republic of Armenia who lives in the Republic of Armenia
can file a petition in the European Court." Tigran Ter-Yesayan says
that we already have a precedent in the European Court - our refugees
v. Azerbaijan. There are petitions from refugees of Artsvashen,
Khojalu, and Shahumyan. My colleague Anna Israelyan wrote about the
cases Chiragov and Others v. Armenia and Minas Sargsyan v.
Azerbaijan considered in the Grand Chamber of the European Court of
Human Rights as early as a few years ago. She informed regarding the
latter case that before 1992, the petitioner of Armenian decent had
lived in the village of Gulistan, district of Shahumyan bordering on
the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, had had a two-story house and
land. The petitioner informed the European Court that prior to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, 82% of Shahumnyan's population had been
ethnic Armenians, that because of forced displacement and actions
of the Azeri government Article 8 (respect for family and private
life), Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), and Article 14
(non-discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights had
been violated. He fell victim to ethnic and religious discrimination,
as all Armenians living in Azerbaijan. So the emphasis was on the
articles of the European Convention, which the Azeri petitioners try
to use against us today. As opposed to the Azeri refugees who left
Armenia, taking everything with them, our refugees from Sumgayit,
Baku... were subjected to torture, murdered, burned alive, without
compensation, losing everything, a part of them barely managed to flee
to Armenia. Tigran Ter-Yesayan says that this will be the touchstone
of 2013. The start of the fight for international law is signaled.
RUZAN MINASYAN Aravot Daily
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/02/27/152622/
February 27 2013
There is a strong influx of lawsuits from Azerbaijan into the European
Court of Human Rights. Azerbaijan makes the best of the factor of
refugees. According to Tigran Ter-Yesayan, the director of Forum, a
human rights center, Armenia will be subpoenaed to the European Court
soon and will have to defend itself. What do we - more than a million
refugees who have been forced to flee to Armenia from the territories
occupied by Azerbaijan - do? According to Tigran Ter-Yesayan,
"Not only we occupied territories, in Oskanian's words, but also
Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan should accept all our occupied territories
starting from Artsvashen. If we talk about territorial integrity and
the right to self-determination, then those are different things.
Azerbaijan conquered our territories. It was encroachment on our
territorial integrity. Self-determination is Artsakh's problem;
therefore, let them apply to the state of Artsakh regarding that
issue. We are not entitled to defend Artsakh against Azerbaijan as a
respondent in the ECHR. If they want us to be a respondent, let them
acknowledge Artsakh as a party and let Artsakh, as such, go and defend
itself in the ECHR. The Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan are members
of the Council of Europe. Our refugees should sue Azerbaijan. Every
refugee of the Republic of Armenia who lives in the Republic of Armenia
can file a petition in the European Court." Tigran Ter-Yesayan says
that we already have a precedent in the European Court - our refugees
v. Azerbaijan. There are petitions from refugees of Artsvashen,
Khojalu, and Shahumyan. My colleague Anna Israelyan wrote about the
cases Chiragov and Others v. Armenia and Minas Sargsyan v.
Azerbaijan considered in the Grand Chamber of the European Court of
Human Rights as early as a few years ago. She informed regarding the
latter case that before 1992, the petitioner of Armenian decent had
lived in the village of Gulistan, district of Shahumyan bordering on
the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, had had a two-story house and
land. The petitioner informed the European Court that prior to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, 82% of Shahumnyan's population had been
ethnic Armenians, that because of forced displacement and actions
of the Azeri government Article 8 (respect for family and private
life), Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), and Article 14
(non-discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights had
been violated. He fell victim to ethnic and religious discrimination,
as all Armenians living in Azerbaijan. So the emphasis was on the
articles of the European Convention, which the Azeri petitioners try
to use against us today. As opposed to the Azeri refugees who left
Armenia, taking everything with them, our refugees from Sumgayit,
Baku... were subjected to torture, murdered, burned alive, without
compensation, losing everything, a part of them barely managed to flee
to Armenia. Tigran Ter-Yesayan says that this will be the touchstone
of 2013. The start of the fight for international law is signaled.
RUZAN MINASYAN Aravot Daily
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/02/27/152622/