Azernews.Az

Elnur Enveroglu

Read more

After Armenia signed the capitulation document on November 10, 2020, people together with all the armed forces who were not native to the territory and settled illegally had to leave Garabagh immediately. However, the processes were somewhat prolonged, and Armenia left the territories determined by the mediation of Russia at certain times.

Everyone remembers well the moments when radical Armenian groups left Kalbajar, Lachin, Gubadli, and Zangilan as stipulated in the signed document. Those groups, who burned their houses and forests and carried even less valuable things on the rooves of their vehicles, looked unusual when leaving Khankendi, Askeran, Aghdara, and Khojavend. Didn't it? We are not yet talking about burying hidden mines while leaving.

The former ombudsman of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, claimed in his statement that the Armenians who left the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan have the right to receive compensation for their property. Before that, Larisa Alaverdyan, the first ombudsman of Armenia, Gevorg Danielyan, the former minister of justice, and others said that Armenians should file civil, moral, health, etc. claims for the damage caused.

As can be seen, the formation of public opinion and the preparation of the ground have already started in Armenia for making new claims against Azerbaijan.

Yes, this is a clarification of the reason why Armenians quietly left other territories of Garabagh after September 20, the great day when separatism was swept out once and forever.

However, those who put forward these claims and those who follow their ideas and decide to bring the matter to the legal level in the future should have known that more than one million Azerbaijanis were expelled from the territory of Armenia and 20 percent of the lands of Azerbaijan. Unlike the Armenians who left Garabagh willingly and without coercion, they were forced to leave their houses, cars, livestock, in a nutshell, everything and ran away. During 30 years, occupied Azerbaijani lands were looted, and cities and villages were wiped off the face of the earth. Who will be liable for all this?

Those who make such claims should know that the demand for compensation and the solution to the issue at the legal level will be two-sided, and in such a case, they should realize what a heavy burden will fall on Armenia.

It is still to be investigated to what extent it is legal for those "100 thousand Armenians" to live in Garabagh.

According to information, most of them later settled illegally. Even in the 1990s, after the First Garabagh War, Armenians illegally settled migrant Armenians from Libia, Syria, and elsewhere in many areas of Garabagh. This was a plan to create an artificial demographic indicator in Garabagh in order to file a claim before international organizations in the future. From a legal point of view, this is a crime, and they have no property, and they have no rights to claim an inch of land in Garabagh.

As for the other side of the issue, Armenia knows very well that the list of Armenians who settled in Garabagh until 1990 was also determined by Azerbaijan. In other words, there is no chance for Erivan to play games here.

In the worst case, let Erivan think about the mines buried in Garabagh, which have ended the lives of hundreds of people even today. Since 2020, Azerbaijan has been reimbursing the material and moral damage caused by Armenia to Azerbaijan by paying from the state budget. However, there is no compensation for the lives taken.

First of all, there was no dialogue between the Azerbaijani government and the representatives of the community with the Armenians who left Garabagh voluntarily. They quietly left their homes and returned to Erivan based on the instructions of the separatist leaders and the Garabagh clan.

The old era is over. Armenia is still trying to deal with Azerbaijan within the framework of the old rules. The state of Azerbaijan is aware of every citizen entering and leaving its sovereign territory. At the same time, Armenia should know that the claim it will put forward cannot be weighed against the damage it has caused in the past. If the case is decided, Erivan should think about compensation for more than one million Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs.

---

Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on @ElnurMammadli1

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz