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full screen International Court ICJ in The Hague. Photo: Peter Dejong/AP/TT
The International Court of Justice in The Hague (ICJ) has jurisdiction to review the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia as two separate legal cases.
This was announced by the UN Supreme Court on Tuesday in written statements. The conflict primarily concerns the disputed breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which both Armenia and Azerbaijan historically claim to have rights to.
The breakaway region’s status has been debated in court since 2021, but it is only now that the court is agreeing to review the two separate filings. Both sides accuse each other of ethnic cleansing, among other things.
The ICJ only adjudicates in legal cases involving disputes between sovereign states.
Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Caucasus have long been in military conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, among other things, which took an abrupt turn when Azeri forces captured the region in a military offensive last September.
Talks are being held to try to reach a lasting peace between the two countries.
A sensitive question concerns Azerbaijan’s demand for a corridor across Armenian land to the Azerbaijani exclave of Nachitjevan, which borders Turkey. In a speech in the UN General Assembly, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the issue should be resolved.