Armenia rejected on Friday Azerbaijan’s latest filing in an international legal forum accusing Armenia of environmental destruction.
Azerbaijan on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Armenia in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague over what it says is evidence of extensive environmental destruction in Artsakh.
In a statement released on Thursday by Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, Armenia is accused of having engaged in “widespread deforestation, environmentally unsustainable logging, mining, and construction of hydropower plants” in the region.
Azerbaijan’s suit, filed in The Hague court on Wednesday, accuses Armenia of violating the 1979 Berne Convention, an international treaty protecting nature areas in Europe and some parts of Africa.
Yegishe Kirakosyan, Armenia’s lead representative in international courts, called Azerbaijan’s latest demands “baseless” in a post on X on Friday.
“Armenia will refute Azerbaijan’s baseless claims, including its preposterous demand for compensation in the arbitration under the 1979 Bern Convention,” said Kirakosyan.
“Contrary to what Azerbaijan suggests, reports by the United Nations Environment Programme and other independent bodies, in fact, make clear that it is Azerbaijan that has engaged in environmental damage in recent years. Armenia will refute Azerbaijan’s baseless claims as well as its demand for compensation,” a statement from the office of Armenia’s Representative on International Legal Affairs said on Friday.
The statement explained that Baku’s suit on Wednesday follows a ruling in April of last year that was favorable to Armenia.
“Armenia will continue to vigorously defend its position in these proceedings. Azerbaijan’s legal case is based on an interpretation and application of the Bern Convention that does not comport with its object and purpose which is to promote cooperation among States to conserve wild flora and fauna and their natural habitats,” said the statement.
“Since becoming a State party to the Bern Convention, Armenia has remained committed to upholding its commitment to the conservation of the region’s wildlife and preservation of the environment. This is reflected, inter alia, in Armenia’s environmental record and its active engagement with the Bern Convention’s Standing Committee,” the statement added.
This latest ploy by Baku to file a lawsuit against Armenia comes a week after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced in Washington that his government was considering abandoning existing legal cases pending in international courts, as a means to resolve one of two contentious issues that remain to be ironed out in a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Several legal and rights experts blasted Pashinyan’s comments made at the Atlantic Council last week, calling his statements irresponsible in light of the fact that current cases pending at the International Criminal Court, among others, are critical for determining the fate of the forcibly displaced Artsakh Armenians who were victims of ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan.
Yorumlar kapatıldı.