Turkey must face UN sanctions after failure to respect European court's interim measure - lawyer

Davit Sargsyan

Turkey, which acts in total breach of the interim measure imposed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), must face proper sanctions by the United Nations as a country responsible for war crimes, a Yerevan-based attorney specializing in international law said today, calling for the necessary fact-finding activities to make the procedure possible.

"Proceedings cannot ultimately end the war, but they may have a restraining function," Ara Ghazaryan told ArmNews TV Channel, calling also for proper efforts by the Armenian government (to furnish facts necessary for the proceeding underway at the Strasbourg court).

"Political statements are not expected to replace a decision by an international tribunal - as was the case with Kosovo. That's a legal platform where the next stage is the formation of a global consensus. Our state has not yet submitted a complaint against Turkey and Azerbaijan, but the judicial proceeding is underway, with those states being in the status of a defendant," he added.

Commenting on the slaughter of two Armenian hostages, Ghazaryan described the episode as a real war crime, which he said has to enter into the proceeding of an interstate complaint to enable also the victims' relatives to lodge individual appeals (that can be later used by the Council of Europe and UN observer groups).

"Those engaged in political lobbying need a proof, a set of facts. Turkey's engagement has already been proven, i.e, - historically documented. What essentially matters is succeeding not only in the political but also the legal domain. The underlying legal basis of the sanctions against Serbia was the documented genocide. And the state consolidated based on the principle of a collective self-defense," the lawyer noted.  

Meantime, Ghazaryan appreciated Armenia's success in demanding a jurisdictional review (after shifting the issue to the domain of a fight against international terrorism). "International subjects have the jurisdiction to take broader frameworks. Artsakh is trying to find allies. And to achieve that it is necessary to offer a legitimate basis, which should be the fight against terrorism. Russia is logically interested in that as a [country] that has suffered its consequences. And Russia has real legal basis for self-defense, as its aircrafts can strike terrorist hubs on the territory of Azerbaijan beyond that country's borders."

Ghazaryan also cited the just war theory as a legitimate basis for Artsakh to opt for self-defense after facing attacks. Meantime he stressed the importance of excluding Turkey from the processes and achieving Nagorno-Karabakh's recognition as a subject of international law. "Artsakh presently serves for international peace. It isn't mandatory to state in the constitution that the state in question has a right to territorial jurisdiction in order to fight terrorists. We can launch an international probe against those perpetrating war crimes. Azerbaijan initiates such prosecutions with false set of facts," he said, referring to Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin's arrest as an example of persecution on racial grounds.

The expert also proposed further steps to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to facilitate the creation a separate tribunal on Artsakh (similar to the Balkan precedent). "What matters are the customary norms; it is important for UN member states to initiate prosecution against those responsible for war crimes. We are obliged to compile the necessary dossier and, availing of the allies' good will, conduct prosecution in their countries, achieving even their extradition," he added.