Azerbaijan Ethnically Cleansed Armenians. It Should Pay a Price

· July 18, 2024

A protester wearing the Armenian national flag stands in front of Russian peacekeepers blocking the road outside Stepanakert, capital of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, on December 24, 2022. - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on December 23, 2022 called for de-escalation in Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh, a region which has sparked two wars between the Caucasus neighbours. (Photo by Davit GHAHRAMANYAN / AFP) (Photo by DAVIT GHAHRAMANYAN/AFP via Getty Images)

By Thomas Becker

Legal and Policy Director at the University Network for Human Rights

Newsweek

Last September, Azerbaijani forces attacked the self-governing enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, and within days all 120,000 ethnic Armenians fled their ancestral homeland, most becoming refugees in neighboring Armenia. Azerbaijan called it a voluntary exodus; Armenians viewed it as a case of expulsion, which is a war crime.

The verdict is now in: a report presented by Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of democracy and exposing human rights abuses, described this tragedy as a planned act of ethnic cleansing. Orchestrated under the despotic regime of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, this tragedy is not merely a regional issue but a profound violation of human rights that demands global action. Azerbaijan should not get away with it.

There is a direct connection between odious regimes and odious actions. Aliyev, who has ruled Azerbaijan since 2003, has systematically dismantled democratic institutions and consolidated power at home, creating a regime characterized by corruption, repression, and human rights abuses. The Aliyev regime’s stranglehold on Azerbaijan is maintained through a combination of electoral fraud, suppression of dissent, and control over the media. Independent voices are silenced, political opponents are jailed, and civil society is stifled, creating an environment where power is maintained through fear and intimidation.

Armenian law enforcement officers detain a demonstrator who attempted to block a street in a protest against land transfer to neighboring Azerbaijan, in Yerevan on May 14. Armenia has agreed to hand over territory ….KAREN MINASYAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGESAliyev has also deployed another classic device of dictatorships: to distract the population’s attention with manufactured crisis against invented foreign enemies. Thus, the regime has, especially since 2020, been constantly ratcheting up vitriolic rhetoric and aggressive action against Armenians.

The report, released last month, is based on satellite imagery, publicly available information and interviews with survivors of the events. It says “there are reasonable grounds to conclude that their forced displacement was intentional. The evidence suggests a coordinated, long-term plan aimed at ridding Nagorno-Karabakh of its ethnic Armenian population.”

“This policy was achieved through regular actions that constitute gross violations of human rights, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law. In a gradual process and methodical manner, the Azerbaijani state-imposed conditions of life designed to either bring about the destruction of the Armenian population over time or render it impossible for them to stay and survive.”