ICC to issue arrest warrant for Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev | Opinion

of the International Criminal Court (ICC) recent decision to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuhis former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas commander Mohammed Deif for their roles in the Israel-Hamas war highlights a double standard when it comes to accusations of genocide.

While there is no doubt that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed during the war, with both Palestinians and Israelis suffering unimaginable losses, the ICC’s decision lacks any consistency in its application of the law and its meaning.

Therefore, the ICC must also issue an arrest warrant for Azerbaijan’s petro-dictator, Ilham Aliyev, for committing similar war crimes and other human rights abuses, including the ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh last year, if they want the world to take them seriously. And while Center for Truth and Justice (CFTJ)a US-based human rights organization that earlier this year requested the ICC to investigate an alleged genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh, there has so far been little movement on that request.

For far too long we have seen governments like Azerbaijan use realpolitik to evade any responsibility for their actions. That is one of the reasons why they have been able to use global forums like COP29the annual UN climate conference they recently hosted to whitewash their image on the world stage.

Cherry-picking what represents genocide sends the wrong message to despots and would-be aggressors who see that type of validation as a green light to act with impunity and reject oversight from international regulators and legal authorities. By not treating Aliyev as a war criminal, the ICC further perpetuates a sense of hypocrisy in the enforcement of the law and allows critics to question its authenticity.

The ICC must be all in when it comes to genocide charges. They cannot be for some and not for others. There should be no doubt or appearance of partiality.

Unfortunately, we are seeing it at the moment with Azerbaijan.

Taking a page out of another strongman’s playbook, Vladimir Putin of Russia Aliyev used the pretext of historical revisionism to launch an unprovoked and illegal war against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh in the fall of 2020. Using the discredited theory that Nagorno-Karabakh was settled by Caucasian Albanians and not Armenians, Aliyev convinced himself and the world that Armenians have no historical rights to their land. Nothing could be further from the truth, which explains why Azerbaijan continues to do so destroy Armenian cultural and historical sites, including churches and monasteries, which have stood for hundreds of years in an attempt to erase all traces of Armenian existence in the region.

The war in 2020 was followed by a 10 month blockade of the only road connecting Armenians in the area with the outside world, which made living conditions so unbearable that Armenians were forced to leave their homes.

That’s exactly what happened when, in September 2023, Azerbaijan forced more than 120,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakhmaking it the largest displacement of Armenians since the Armenian Genocide of 1915. In one fell swoop, Azerbaijan resurrected a thousand-year-old culture and civilization overnight. Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosecutor of the ICC, called it a genocide and said it was one of the world’s biggest refugee and humanitarian crises at the time.

Despite these crimes and atrocities, Azerbaijan has been able to avoid any punishment or scorn from the international community. Azerbaijan’s actions have been met only with inaction from the US and the West.

Enamored with Azerbaijan’s vast oil and natural resources and proximity to Iran for military intelligence, Western leaders such as President Joe Biden has refused to condemn Azerbaijan and has blocked several United Nations resolutions criticizing Azerbaijan. The Biden administration has also opposed any congressional measures aimed at holding Azerbaijan accountable or securing the release of Armenian prisoners of war and political prisoners.

Self The European Union signed one agreement with Azerbaijan to double gas imports by 2027, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling Aliyev a “reliable partner”.

This lack of accountability allows countries like Azerbaijan to act with impunity while undermining the integrity of international courts like the ICC, which were created to prevent war crimes from happening in the first place.

Being inconsistent with genocide charges sets a dangerous precedent. It denies the victims proper justice and basically says that genocide is not all created equal. If the ICC wants any credibility over its recent arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, then it needs to be consistent in how it interprets and enforces the law. They can start by turning their attention to Azerbaijan.

Stephan Pechdimaldji is a communications strategist living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a first-generation Armenian American and the grandson of survivors of the Armenian Genocide. You can follow him on X at @spechdimaldji.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.