WAR IN THE FIELD TRANSFORMS INTO LEGAL WAR: AZERBAIJAN'S AND ARMENIA'S INITIATIVES IN INTERNATIONAL LAW AS A STRUGGLE FOR MORAL SUPREMACY

Abstract

The Second Karabakh War resulted in the decisive victory of Azerbaijan. The war that ended in the field has now been moved to the courtrooms, and the parties have started legal proceedings against each other from many different means. This article has two purposes. The first of these is to present a general picture and analysis on the problems of international law that arose or resurfaced on the occasion and in the aftermath of the Second Karabakh War. In this context, the issues discussed in international publications such as the problem of effective control, the claim of the right to self-determination, the legal justification for the liberation operation of Azerbaijan are some of the matters that will be brought to the attention of the reader. Secondly, the article will provide an analysis of the possible outcomes of the applications by the parties with the alleged violation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination before the International Court of Justice. At this point, it will be criticized that the Convention has become a backdoor that is being used to create jurisdiction and that the International Court of Justice does not take steps to prevent this.

Keywords

• Azerbaijan
• Armenia
• CERD
• ECHR
• Azerbaijan-Armenia
• International Court of Justice
• Elimination of Racial Discrimination
• Humanitarian Law
• Protection of Cultural Heritage

SICAK SAVAŞTAN HUKUK SAVAŞINA: BİR MORAL ÜSTÜNLÜK MÜCADELESİ OLARAK AZERBAYCAN’IN VE ERMENİSTAN’IN ULUSLARARASI HUKUKTAKİ GİRİŞİMLERİ

Abstract

İkinci Karabağ Savaşı Azerbaycan’ın kesin zaferi ile sonuçlanmıştır. Sahada sona eren sıcak savaş, şimdi ise mahkeme salonlarına taşınmış olup, taraflar birbirlerine karşı birçok koldan hukuki süreçler başlatmışlardır. Bu makalenin iki amacı vardır. Bunlardan ilki İkinci Karabağ Savaşı vesilesi ile doğan veya yeniden gün yüzüne çıkan uluslararası hukuk sorunları ile ilgili genel bir malumat ve analiz sunmaktır. Bu kapsamda etkin kontrol sorunu, kendi kaderini tayin hakkı iddiası, Azerbaycan’ın işgalden kurtarma operasyonunun hangi hukuki gerekçeye dayandığı gibi uluslararası neşriyatta tartışılan konular okuyucunun dikkatine sunulacaktır. İkinci olarak, makale Uluslar arası Adalet Divanı önünde, Her Türlü Irk Ayrımcılığının Ortadan Kaldırılması Sözleşmesinin ihlal edildiği iddiası ile tarafların açtığı karşılıklı davaları genel olarak inceleyerek, davaların muhtemel çıktıları ile alakalı analizini sunacaktır. Bu noktada Sözleşmenin yargı yetkisi yaratmak için kullanılan bir arka kapı haline gelmesi ve Uluslar arası Adalet Divanı’nın bunu engelleyecek adımlar atmaması eleştirilecektir.

Keywords

• Azerbaycan
• Ermenistan
• Uluslararası Adalet Divanı
• Irk Ayrımcılığının Önlenmesi Sözleşmesi
• İnsancıl Hukuk
• Kültürel Varlıkların Korunması

References

1. Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo (Request for Advisory Opinion), General List No. 141, International Court of Justice (ICJ), 22 July 2010.
2. Alâeddin Yalçınkaya, Kafkasya’da Siyasi Gelişmeler, Lalezar Kitabevi-Ankara, 2006.
3. Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America), Preliminary Objections, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2021.
4. Anoush Baghdassarian, ‘The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Goes to Court’, Lawfare, 22.06.2022, https://www.lawfareblog.com/nagorno-karabakh-conflict-goes-court-0 .
5. Antonio Cassese, ‘The Nicaragua and Tadic Tests Revisited in Light of the ICJ Judgment on Genocide in Bosnia’ (2007) 18 European Journal of International Law.
6. Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Georgia v. Russian Federation), Preliminary Objections, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2011.
7. Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Georgia v. Russian Federation), Preliminary Objections, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2011.
8. Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Qatar v. United Arab Emirates), Preliminary Objections, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2021.

9. Aytekin Kaan Kurtul, ‘The Karabakh Armistice: Between the Principle of Territorial Integrity and Peoples’ Right to Self-Determination’, CILJ Blog, December 17, 2020, http://cilj.co.uk/2020/12/17/the-karabakh-armistice-between-the-principle-of-territorial-integrity-and-peoples-right-to-self-determination/ (Son erişim 17.09.2022).
10. Azerbaijan v. Armenia (no. 47319/20), Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights, 15.01.2021.
11. Bernhard Knoll-Tudor and Daniel Mueller, At Daggers Drawn: International Legal Issues Surrounding the Conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, EJIL: Talk, November 17, 2020, https://www.ejiltalk.org/at-daggers-drawn-international-legal-issues-surrounding-the-conflict-in-and-around-nagorno-karabakh/ (Son erişim 17.09.2022).
12. Cavid Abdullahzade, ‘Dağlık Karabağ Sorununda Ermenistan’ın Rolü ve Sorumluluğu’, Ankara Üni. Hukuk Fak. Dergisi, 69 (4) 2020. Callista Harris ‘Claims with an Ulterior Purpose: Characterising Disputes Concerning the “Interpretation or Application” of a Treaty’. The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 18.3 (2020).
13. Chiragov and Others v. Armenia, Application no. 13216/05, Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights, 16 June 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,ECHR,5582d29d4.html [accessed 17 September 2022].
14. Constantinos Yiallourides, Markus Gehring & Jean-Pierre Gauci ‘The Use of Force in relation to Sovereignty Disputes over Land Territory’, The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), 2018, https://www.biicl.org/documents/2_territorial_disputes_web_ready_version.pdf (Son erişim 11.09.2020)
15. Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights, ‘Guide on Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights: Obligations to Respect Human Rights – Concepts of “Jurisdiction” and Imputability’, updated on 31 December 2019.
16. Council of Europe, ‘The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference’, Resolution 1416 (2005), Assembly debate on 25 January 2005 (2nd Sitting) (see Doc. 10364, report of the Political Affairs Committee, rapporteur : Mr Atkinson). Text adopted by the Assembly on 25 January 2005 (2nd Sitting).
17. Dapo Akande and Antonios Tzanakopoulos, ‘Legal: Use of Force in Self-Defence to Recover Occupied Territory’, European Journal of International Law, Volume 32, Issue 4, November 2021.
18. Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-Operation among States, UN Doc. A/8082 (1970).
19. Elizabeth Wilmshurst, ‘Ukraine: Debunking Russia’s legal justifications’, Chatham House, 24.02.2022, at https://www.chathamhouse.org/2022/02/ukraine-debunking-russias-legal-justifications (Son erişim 17.09.2022).
20. Elçin Neciyev, ‘Azerbaycan’ın Sovyetleştirilmesi Sürecinde Karabağ Problemi’, Ermeni Araştırmaları 2011, Sayı 39, https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/639705 (Son erişim 16.09.2022).
21. Emine Vildan Özyılmaz, ‘Geçmişten Günümüz Karabağ, Gazi Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, 2013 Cilt: 15 Sayı: 2.
22. Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission - Partial Award: Jus Ad Bellum - Ethiopia's Claims 1-8 19 December 2005 VOLUME XXVI para.10.
23. Esma Özdaşlı, ‘İkinci Karabağ Savaşı’nda Ermenilerin Sivillere Yönelik Saldırılarının Uluslararası İnsancıl Hukuk Açısından Değerlendirilmesi’, Giresun Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Dergisi, Cilt:7 Sayı:1, 2021 Karabağ Armağan Sayısı.
24. Farid Shafiyev ‘The Forced Resettlement of Azerbaijanis from Armenia, 1948–1953’, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, (2019) 39:2.
25. Filippo Fontanelli, ‘The Disputes Between Armenia and Azerbaijan: The CERD Compromissory Clause as a One-way Ticket to Hague’, EJIL:Talk, November 11, 2021, https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-disputes-between-armenia-and-azerbaijan-the-cerd-compromissory-clause-as-a-one-way-ticket-to-hague/ (Son ulaşım 15.09.2022).
26. Gunay Hajiyeva, ‘Azerbaijan To Launch Legal Proceedings Demanding Compensation for Damage and Ecological Terror Committed by Armenia’, Caspian News, May 8, 2022, https://caspiannews.com/news-detail/azerbaijan-to-launch-legal-proceedings-demanding-compensation-for-damage-and-ecological-terror-committed-by-armenia-2022-5-8-0/
27. Heiko. Krüger, The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Legal Analysis. Springer Science & Business Media, 2010.
28. Human Rights Watch, ‘Azerbaijan: Seven Years of Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh’, December 1994, https://www.hrw.org/report/1994/12/01/seven-years-conflict-nagorno-karabakh (Son erişim 15.09.2022).
29. ICJ, Nicaragua v. USA, [1986] ICJ Rep 14, 64.
30. ICJ, Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan), filed in the Registry of the Court on 16 September 2021 https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/180/180-20210916-APP-01-00-EN.pdf (accessed on 15.09.2022).
31. ICJ, Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Azerbaijan v. Armenia) filed in the Registry of the Court on 23 September 2021, https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/181/181-20210923-APP-01-00-EN.pdf (Son ulaşım 15.09.2022).
32. ICJ, Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan), Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures, 7 December 2021. https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/180/180-20211207-ORD-01-00-EN.pdf (Son ulaşım 15.09.2022). ICJ, Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Azerbaijan v. Armenia), Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures, 7 December 2021. https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/181/181-20211207-ORD-01-00-EN.pdf (Son ulaşım 15.09.2022).
33. Institute on Law and Human Rights, ‘Legal aspects of armenian compensation for damages to Azerbaijan as a result of aggression’, http://huquq.org.az/publication/legal-aspects-of-armenian-compensation-for-damages-to-azerbaijan-as-a-result-of-aggression/ (Son erişim 14.09.2022)
34. Jeremy Julian Sarkin, ‘Law and State Practice in Azerbaijan: Dealing with the Issues Concerning the Search, Exhumation and Identification of Missing Persons in Conflict Zones’, Caucasus Survey, 2022, 10(2).
35. Jure Vidmar, ‘Remedial Secession in International Law: Theory and (Lack of) Practice’ 6 St Antony’s International Review (2010).
36. Kristen Boon, ‘Are Control Tests Fit for the Future? The Slippage Problem in Attribution Doctrines’, (2014) 15(2) Melbourne Journal of International Law.
37. Mia Rabel, ‘Is There a Right to Secession in International Law?’ E-International Relations, 18.05.2020, https://www.e-ir.info/2020/05/18/is-there-a-right-to-secession-in-international-law, (Son erişim 17.09.2022).
38. Mushfig Mammadov: ‘Legal Aspects of Nagorno-Garabagh Conflict’, Caucasian Review of International Affairs (CRIA) Vol. 1 (1), 2006.
39. Mustafa Gökçe, ‘Yukarı Karabağ Sorunu ve Türkiye-Ermenistan İlişkileri Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme’, Turkish Studies, (2011) Volume 6/1.
40. Muradyan v. Armenia, (Application no. 11275/07), Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights, https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22fulltext%22:[%22muradyan%22],%22itemid%22:[%22001-168852%22]} [Son erişim 17.09. 2022].
41. Nurlan Mustafayev, ‘Azerbaijan v. Armenia before the European Court of Human Rights: Revisiting the Effective Control Test after the “44-Day War’, Opinio Juris, 08.04.2022.
42. Nurlan Mustafayen, ‘Who Has Effective Control in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh Region?’, EJIL Talk, 4.07.2022, https://www.ejiltalk.org/who-has-effective-control-in-azerbaijans-karabakh-region/ (Son erişim 16.09.2022).
43. Nurlan Mustafayev, ‘Azerbaijan v. Armenia before the European Court of Human Rights: The Protection of Property Rights in Occupied Territories’, Opinio Juris, 06.08.2021,https://opiniojuris.org/2021/08/06/azerbaijan-v-armenia-before-the-european-court-of-human-rights-the-protection-of-property-rights-in-occupied-territories/ (Son erişim 15.09.2022).
44. Nurlan Mustafayev, ‘Small Hiroshima’: Addressing Systemic Cultural Heritage Erasure in Formerly Armenia-Occupied Territories’, Opinio Juris, 04.08.2022, https://opiniojuris.org/2022/08/04/small-hiroshima-addressing-systemic-cultural-heritage-erasure-in-formerly-armenia-occupied-territories/ (Son erişim 14.09.2022)
45. Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe, Helsinki Final Act (signed 1st August 1975), Principle VIII.
46. Ömer Göksel İşyar, Sovyet-Rus Dış Politikaları ve Karabağ Sorunu, Alfa Yayınları-İstanbul, (2004).
47. Phoebe Okowa, ‘The international court of justice and the Georgia/Russia dispute’, Human Rights Law Review 11, no. 4 (2011).
48. Prosecutor v. Tadić (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Appeals Chamber, Case No IT-94-1-A, 15 July 1999).
49. Rovshan Ibrahimov and Murad Muradov, ‘Historical and Legal Aspects of the Karabakh Conflict: An Azerbaijani Perspective on A Shared Post-Conflict Future’ in Liberated Karabakh: Policy Perspectives by the ADA University Community (edited by Fariz Ismailzade and Damjan Krnjević Mišković), ADA University Press: Baku, 2021.
50. Sargsyan v. Azerbaijan, (Application no. 40167/06) Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights, https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22fulltext%22:[%22sargsyan%22],%22itemid%22:[%22001-179555%22]} [Son erişim 17.09. 2022]. Supreme Court Canada, Secession of Quebec [1998] 2 SCR 217.
51. Tom Allen, Compensation for Porperty Under the European Convention on Human Rights, 28 MICH. J. INT'L L. 287 (2007).
52. Tom Ruys, 'Armed Attack' and Article 51 of the UN Charter: Evolutions in Customary Law and Practice (Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law). (2010). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, s. 99ff.
53. Tom Ruys and Felipe Rodríguez Silvestre, ‘Illegal: The Recourse to Force to Recover Occupied Territory and the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War’, European Journal of International Law, Volume 32, Issue 4, November 2021.
54. Tom Ruys and Felipe Rodríguez Silvestre, ‘The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and the Exercise of “Self-Defense” to Recover Occupied Land’, Opinio Juris, 10.11.2020 https://www.justsecurity.org/73310/the-nagorno-karabakh-conflict-and-the-exercise-of-self-defense-to-recover-occupied-land/ (Son erişim 17.09.2022).
55. UN General Assembly, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 14 March 2008, 62/243. T, The situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
56. UNCHR, ‘Azerbaijan: Analysis of Gaps in the Protection of Internally Displaced Persons’, October 2009, https://www.unhcr.org/4bd7edbd9.pdf (Son erişim 15.09.2022).
57. Quincy Wright, ‘The Goa Incident’, The American Journal of International Law 56, no. 3 (1962).
58. Yilin Wang, ‘Warfare to Lawfare under CERD: Armenia v. Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan v. Armenia’, Opinio Juris, 09.11.2021, https://opiniojuris.org/2021/11/09/warfare-to-lawfare-under-cerd-armenia-v-azerbaijan-and-azerbaijan-v-armenia/ .
59. Yoram Dinstein, War, Aggression and Self-Defence (6th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2017).
60. Yulia Gureyeva-Aliyeva ve Tabib Huseynov, ‘Can You Be an IDP for Twenty Years?” A Comparative Field Study on the Protection Needs and Attitudes Towards Displacement Among IDP and Host Communities in Azerbajan’, The Brookings Institution-London School of Economics Project on Internal Displacement, Baku, December 2011 https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/12_idp_host_communities_azerbaijan.pdf (Son erişim 15.09.2022); Yücel Acer, ‘The War Crimes of Armenia International Law and The Military Acts of Armenia In and Around Karabakh’, SETA, 11.11.2020, No. 70, https://setav.org/en/assets/uploads/2020/11/A70En.pdf (Son erişim 14.09.2022),
61. Zafer Atar,’ Dağlık Karabağ'da 1923'den Günümüze Kadar Yaşanan Gelişmeler’, Sosyal Bilimler, 2005 Cilt:3 Savı.1.
62. Zalyan and Others v. Armenia, (Applications nos. 36894/04 and 3521/07), Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights, https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-161408%22]} [Son erişim 17.09. 2022].