From the War to the Legal War: Azerbaijan and Armenia Initiatives in International Law as a Struggle for Moral Supremacy

Abstract

The Second Karabakh War resulted in the decisive victory of Azerbaijan. The war that ended in the field has now been moved to the courtrooms, and the parties have started legal proceedings against each other from many different means. This article has two purposes. The first of these is to present a general picture and analysis on the problems of international law that arose or resurfaced on the occasion and in the aftermath of the Second Karabakh War. In this context, the issues discussed in international publications such as the problem of effective control, the claim of the right to self-determination, the legal justification for the liberation operation of Azerbaijan are some of the matters that will be brought to the attention of the reader. Secondly, the article will provide an analysis of the possible outcomes of the applications by the parties with the alleged violation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination before the International Court of Justice. At this point, it will be criticized that the Convention has become a backdoor that is being used to create jurisdiction and that the International Court of Justice does not take steps to prevent this.