Armenia must pay reparations to Azerbaijan. For 30 years, it occupied Azerbaijani lands, looted both underground and surface resources, and caused humanitarian disasters, environmental damage, and the destruction of historical monuments. Armenia should compensate for these actions. Additionally, Azerbaijan should demand compensation for all military expenditures incurred over the 30 years of conflict, as well as for the payments made to veterans, families of martyrs, and war-disabled individuals. It is now time for Azerbaijan to raise these demands before both official Yerevan and international organizations and courts. Azerbaijan has enough knowledgeable and experienced international lawyers working in both government bodies and academic institutions. This issue should be thoroughly discussed at an official level with their involvement, and a legal document demanding reparations should be drafted as soon as possible.
International law is on our side. The Hague and Geneva Conventions, the UN Charter, its resolutions, including UN Security Council Resolution 687, and the "Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts," which is considered customary law even though it hasn’t been formally ratified, provide a legal basis for Armenia to pay reparations to Azerbaijan. Several historical precedents, including rulings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), support compensation claims for occupation.
For example, in 1947, Yugoslavia’s demand for reparations from Germany was a historical precedent. Additionally, in a 2007 ruling, the ICJ confirmed that an occupying party, as in the case of Serbia, is obligated to pay reparations for genocide and war crimes.
Germany paid significant reparations to affected countries after World War I under the Treaty of Versailles and later paid reparations for the Holocaust to Israel and other nations after World War II. In 1990, following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the United Nations established a special fund, taking reparations from Iraq for the economic and military damages caused by the occupation.
These precedents lay a path for Azerbaijan to demand reparations from Armenia for its military aggression and occupation. Azerbaijan can pursue its claim through bilateral negotiations with Armenia, international courts, or at the UN level. To proceed, the total damage caused by the occupation must be calculated, a process that the Azerbaijani government has already started by involving independent experts for accurate assessments. The reparation claim could be included in the peace agreement with Armenia, explicitly stating that Armenia is obligated to pay material and moral reparations to Azerbaijan for its military aggression, occupation, and destruction. The content of this clause should specify the amount, method, and timeframe for reparations.
If the parties cannot agree on the amount or payment method for reparations, the peace agreement could include a provision for referring the matter to international arbitration mechanisms. In this case, the peace agreement may specify direct recourse to institutions like the Permanent Court of Arbitration or the International Court of Justice, which can determine the amount of damages and issue legal rulings.
The ICJ and the International Criminal Court (ICC) have previously issued rulings referencing the "Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts," prepared by the UN International Law Commission in 2001. Given the clarity this draft provides, it's worth highlighting its key points for our readers. The draft states that any internationally wrongful act or omission by a state constitutes a breach of international obligations. There are two main conditions for establishing state responsibility:
States responsible for internationally wrongful acts are accountable for their consequences, which include:
When an internationally wrongful act occurs, states must take measures to address its consequences, including:
- Payment for damages: The offending state must compensate for the damage caused.
- Return of property: The state must return property taken from another state.
To prevent Armenia from evading its obligation to pay reparations, Azerbaijan can leverage pressure from international organizations and powers, such as:
If Armenia fails to comply with reparations rulings, Azerbaijan can pursue property claims against Armenia's assets abroad. This could include the seizure or freezing of Armenian state-owned financial resources in foreign countries.
Another step would be for Azerbaijan to work with international organizations and partner countries to impose an economic blockade or trade embargo against Armenia in response to its refusal to pay reparations.
In this context, it is worth recalling UN Security Council Resolution 687. Adopted on April 3, 1991, the resolution deals with Iraq. It outlined the conditions for establishing peace after the Gulf War, which began with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Although some of its provisions are irrelevant to Azerbaijan since we have already expelled the occupying forces from our lands, the demand for the disarmament of Iraq should be applied to Armenia. Currently, the resurgence of revanchist sentiments in both the Armenian government and society makes Armenia's full disarmament a necessary step.
According to UN Security Council Resolution 687, Iraq was obliged to pay reparations to Kuwait. A special fund, the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), was established for these payments. The UNCC accepted claims from individuals, companies, governments, and other organizations for losses and damages caused by Iraq’s invasion. These claims were categorized into different groups, and the primary source of funds for the compensation was Iraq’s oil revenues. In 1995, the UN launched the “Oil-for-Food Programme,” under which 30% of Iraq’s oil sales were allocated to compensation payments. This mechanism was designed to meet the needs of the Iraqi people while also compensating victims of the invasion. The UNCC received approximately 2.7 million claims across various categories, and Iraq eventually paid around $52.4 billion in compensation. These payments continued over many years, with the final payment made in 2022.
Now, Armenia might argue that unlike Iraq, it does not have oil and lacks the economic power to pay reparations. In this case, Armenia could consider two options:
Leasing its telecommunications, transportation, utilities, and other natural resources to Azerbaijan for a long-term period;
Returning Western Zangezur to Azerbaijan, similar to how Greece ceded the Karagach region near the Maritsa River to Turkey instead of paying war reparations under the Lausanne Treaty.
Taleh SHAHSUVARLY
About the Author: Taleh Shahsuvarly was born on March 10, 1977, in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, in the Barda district. He graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in the history of philosophy from Baku State University. Later, he pursued higher education in law at the same university. He participated in the Second Karabakh War as an officer with the rank of "senior lieutenant." Shahsuvarly is a political analyst. After completing his higher education, he engaged in journalism in Azerbaijan. Since 2018, he has been the editor-in-chief of the analytical-information portal AzNews.az.