Lawyer: Azerbaijan's case always centered upon Armenia's 30-year campaign of ethnic cleansing

Azerbaijan's case is always centered on Armenia's 30-year campaign of ethnic cleansing and cultural erasure, Vaughan Lowe, a lawyer, a member of the legal team of Azerbaijan at the International Court of Justice, said.

According to Report, Lowe was speaking during the second round of oral argument of the Azerbaijani side in response to the opponent's preliminary objections within the hearings in the case of the application of ICERD (Azerbaijan vs. Armenia) at the International Court in The Hague.

Lowe said Armenia's campaign includes both forcible and collective expulsion and displacement of Azerbaijanis from places of their permanent residence, and the prevention of their return.

"Azerbaijan has always presented Armenia's deployment of landmines and booby-traps and the destruction and the looting of environment and resources of the formerly occupied areas as being among the many elements of this 30-year campaign," he said, adding that this is made perfectly clear in Azerbaijan's letter of December 8, 2020, in Azerbaijan's application to the court in September 2021, in Azerbaijan's memorial in January 2023 and in the submissions this week.

According to him, Azerbaijan clearly stated the facts on which it relies and the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which were violated by the actions set forth in these facts.

There are no changes to the claim of the Azerbaijani side, as argued by Armenia, the lawyer added.