Chingiz Asgarov: The European Court should decide that indeed Armenia has responsibility for violation of the rights of persons from Lachin region.

“On January 9, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights declared admissible the application of six Azerbaijani nationals, the internally displaced people from Lachin region. The court also declared admissible the application of an Armenian national v. Azerbaijan,” Azerbaijan’s authorized representative at the European Court of Human Rights Chingiz Asgarov told journalists, APA reports.

He said the court was expected to take this step long ago.
"The European Court received the application of the Azerbaijani nationals v. Armenia in 2005. The applicants - Fakhraddin Pashayev, Ramiz Jabrayilov, Saghatel Jabrayilov, Akif Hasanov, Adishirin Chiraqov and Elkhan Chiraqov - had complained about their loss of property and other possessions in Lachin when they were forced to flee in 1992. The European Court held an open hearing in September, 2010 and this decision was passed 16 months later. The decisions show that Nagorno Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan. Armenian Armed forces together with the Nagorno Karabakh Armenians occupied a great part of the Azerbaijani territories. As a result of it, one million Azerbaijanis became internally displaced people. It is also written that the area of the former Nagorno Karabakh province was 4 000 sq km, while twice as much territory was occupied. These are seven regions of Azerbaijan," he said.

Chingiz Asgarov also gave information about the application of the Armenian national Minas Sargysan.

"This Armenian claims that he lived in the village of Gulustan of the former Shaumyan, present Goranboy region. He claims that his right of property was violated, Armenian cemeteries in Azerbaijan were demolished. Due to evidences we submitted, the European Court rejected this complaint. The Court considers his compliant as a drivel. Our main argument is that the village of Gulustan is located on the line of contact between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops. Therefore Azerbaijan can not secure the residence of any person there. But the issue was decided to be considered by the court in the following phases". 

Asgarov noted that the two complaints are the matter of jurisdiction. "We proved our rightness, but the court has not yet considered the complaints to the point. It will assess the jurisdiction matter when considers it to the point. The European Court should decide that indeed Armenia has responsibility for violation of the rights of persons from Lachin region. This is not some false issue, because in fact, Nagorno Karabakh and around regions are under the Armenia's control. On the other hand, the complaint against Azerbaijan is a matter of jurisdiction. We can not secure the rights of that Armenian man due to the fault of Armenia. If there are no Armenian armed forces in that territory, the residence of persons can be secured. But we can not secure the rights of that person because of presence of the Armenian armed forces there. This is main issue".