Azerbaijan and Turkey Must Be Held Accountable, Minister Rustam Badasyan in Japan

Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan is in Kyoto, Japan from March 5 to 11, 2021. The minister is participating in the 14th Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

In his speech on March 7, Minister Badasyan expressed gratitude to Japan and the UNODC Secretariat for organizing the event and noted that this UN platform provides a great opportunity for governments to discuss issues related to crime prevention and the challenges of criminal justice, as well as to implement necessary mechanisms and tools.

Minister Badasyan also specifically addressed the issue of hate speech, stating that this issue is particularly relevant to Armenia due to the intolerance faced by the Armenian people throughout history concerning their ethnic, religious, and cultural identity, leading to discrimination, persecution, hate-based crimes, and genocide. "In this context, the Armenian delegation has initiated the inclusion of a separate provision on hate crimes in the Kyoto declaration," said Rustam Badasyan, emphasizing that crimes based on hatred and identity characteristics are the first steps that can lead to serious crimes against humanity, including war crimes and ethnic cleansing.

"I believe that the impunity, justification, and denial of past crimes pave the way for a resurgence of violence and new atrocities," highlighted the Armenian Minister of Justice, presenting the consequences of the Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone in September 2020 as an obvious example, where mercenaries and terrorist fighters were brought in from Libya and Syria to combat against Armenians. He pointed out that the causes of the first war in Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s were also rooted in hatred and discrimination against Armenians, as well as the denial of fundamental human rights.

"For decades, Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian policy has found its most inhumane expression during the recent aggression against the people of Artsakh, accompanied by crimes against humanity and war crimes. Some of the most notable examples of such crimes include the use of cluster munitions against the civilian population, targeting and destruction of Armenian cultural heritage, and the use of prohibited phosphorus munitions against displaced populations who took refuge in forests, causing massive damage to both humanity and the environment," said Rustam Badasyan, also citing Azerbaijan's gross violations of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War by refusing to return Armenian prisoners of war and other captives, including women.

"The recruitment of foreign terrorists by Turkey and their subsequent deployment in the ranks of the Azerbaijani armed forces for military operations against Artsakh is yet another grave crime committed by Azerbaijan and Turkey in gross violation of all international norms. Several pieces of evidence obtained from relevant sources indicate that Turkey and Azerbaijan support and contribute to the increase and spread of terrorist threats in our region. Therefore, we believe that the international community must join efforts to confront this threat and hold accountable those supporting and perpetrating this crime," stated Rustam Badasyan.