YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Yeghisheh Kirakosyan, Armenia's Representative on international legal matters, described the actions of the Azerbaijani side as cynical and frivolous. They are attempting to portray Armenia and Azerbaijan as equals during the hearings in the "Armenia versus. Azerbaijan" case at the International Court of Justice.

In his speech during the hearing at the International Court of Justice, Yeghisheh Kirakosyan reminded that on September 16, 2021, Armenia initiated proceedings against Azerbaijan, citing the state's implementation of an egregious policy of racial discrimination against Armenians by nationality."

"Azerbaijani children are instructed to hate and kill Armenians through school textbooks. State media actively spread hate speech, and government officials openly advocate for the complete extermination of Armenians. "It's state-permitted racism," emphasized Kirakosyan.

He emphasized that this long-standing state policy of racial discrimination reached its zenith when Azerbaijan initiated an aggressive war against the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, with the stated objective of eliminating and expelling Armenians from their homeland.

Yeghisheh Kirakosyan also quoted Azerbaijani President Aliyev's recent remarks, where Aliyev stated that the hatred of the enemy (Armenians) is what propels Azerbaijanis forward.

"For 44 days, Azerbaijani soldiers killed and tortured ethnic Armenians, proudly filming their atrocities…," Kirakosyan reminded the court. This violence and intimidation were employed by Azerbaijan to ethnically cleanse the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, resulting in the expulsion of at least 30,000 Armenians from their homeland.

The Armenian representative elucidated that following these events, Armenia invoked this convention and petitioned the court to promptly safeguard the vulnerable ethnic Armenians who had not yet been killed or expelled from their homeland.

Simultaneously, he added: "Even the International Court of Justice could not halt Azerbaijan's racial campaign, within which ethnic cleansing was perpetrated."

Yeghisheh Kirakosyan announced that in September 2023, Azerbaijan attacked, prompting hundreds of thousands of Armenians to flee their homeland. He recalled that prior to this, Azerbaijan had blockaded the Lachin corridor, cutting off vital supplies to the population of Nagorno-Karabakh. Kirakosyan also noted that the International Court of Justice had ordered Azerbaijan to open the Lachin corridor, but Azerbaijan failed to comply with the court's decision.

Azerbaijan has not taken any measures to ensure the safe return of those who wish to go back to their homeland after these events," Kirakosyan stated, referring to the potential return of forcibly displaced Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.

He reminded the court that Azerbaijan is systematically erasing the Armenian cultural heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh, underscoring that these circumstances were the basis for Armenia's application to the court.

In response to statements made yesterday by the representative of Azerbaijan, in which the latter attempted to establish an equivalence between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Kirakosyan deemed it unacceptable. He declared that these efforts are frivolous and cynical."He also added that Azerbaijan's difficulty in presenting evidence to the court stems from its non-existence, characterizing it as a desperate attempt by Azerbaijan to establish equality," Kirakosyan emphasized.