How valuable is Armenian representative’s letter to UN Security Council, what should follow? – Local and international experts explain

Last week, Mher Margaryan, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, sent a letter to Nicolas de Riviere, Permanent representative of France to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of July, depicting Azerbaijan’s infringements of Armenia’s sovereign territory, which resulted in casualties. The letter triggered various discussions in Armenia, with some people misinterpreting it as Armenia’s official appeal to the UN to consider Azerbaijan’s actions in the Security Council. In a conversation with Factor.am, UN National Expert Ara Marjanyan welcomed the initiative, noting that the letter is of informative nature — it informs about what had happened around Armenia – stressing, however, that it cannot be considered as an official appeal to UN Security Council by Armenia.

“The letter is Armenia’s official assessment of what is happening, it states the grounds on which the country, if necessary, would ensure its security. It speaks of our more active foreign policy. Armenia, however, has never ruled out that, if necessary, it reserves the right to use all its capacities to prevent Turkish-Azerbaijani infringements,” Marjanyan says, noting that while there is no need to apply to the UN Security Council yet, there is nothing that prevents us from doing so either. “We just have to make every effort to ensure that the permanent members of the UN Security Council — three of whom are co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group — do their best to resolve the issue before such an appeal is needed.”

According to an Armenian Foreign Ministry statement, the Permanent Representative of Armenia to the UN stated in his letter that Azerbaijan’s aggressive actions against Armenia are accompanied by territorial claims voiced by top figures, threats of military actions, and ethnic hate speech.

“Armenia is determined to use its legal right of self-defense to ensure its sovereignty and territorial integrity on the basis of Article 51 of the UN Charter. Armenia believes that a comprehensive and lasting political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be reached by peaceful means, under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs,” the statement said, adding that the letter was submitted to the UN Security Council members and will soon be published as an official document.

Former UN human rights and democracy expert, American lawyer and historian Alfred de Zayas told Factor.am that the letter from the Armenian representative was a necessary step. “The Armenian Diaspora has a strong voice in France. Therefore, it is possible that the French Permanent Representative to the UN is well aware of the arguments of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.”

The expert noted that India will assume the presidency of the Security Council in August, and Ireland in September. De Zayas believes that a legal appeal about Azerbaijan’s illegal aggression and war crimes committed during it, must be submitted to each President of the Security Council.

“Armenia should demand that the Council reaffirm the ban on the use of force enshrined in Article 2. 4 of the UN Charter as a mandatory law, followed by implications for Azerbaijan. Aggression with impunity after the entry into force of the Charter of the International Criminal Court is no longer acceptable. What Azerbaijan did in October 2020 was a serious violation of the goals of Article 39 of the UN Charter – international peace, as well as a violation of the prohibition on the use of force. Tolerance of this situation will set a dangerous precedent, will contradict the general efforts to establish an international order based on rules,” he says.

De Zayas says, a serious obstacle to restoring justice and finding a lasting solution to the conflict is the ocean of lies and distortions spread by Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as the complicity of the prominent international media by not correcting the distorted facts on the spot, and not revealing Azerbaijani manipulations.

“There is a huge lack of information in the world, in the UN, and, consequently, it is the job of the Armenian Diaspora in Armenia to present the historical truth. Azerbaijan’s unacceptable territorial claims, the ongoing threat of hostilities, Azerbaijan’s vulgar hate speech against Armenians must be condemned internationally.

“As Azerbaijan’s actions are a crime of aggression, according to the Kapala definition adopted by the Assembly of States Parties to the 2010 Rome Charter, the Security Council must refer the case to the International Criminal Court, otherwise the new Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court may initiate an investigation,” de Zayas says, noting that since July 2021, the Prosecutor General here is Karim Khan from the United Kingdom.