Table of contents introduction

United Nations (UN)

When the resolutions of the UN Security Council related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are examined, four important resolutions can be examined in number (822 (30 April 1993), 853 (29 July 1993), 874 (14 October 1993) and 884 (12 November) resolutions). These decisions cover the termination of the armed conflicts in the region and the evacuation of the occupied lands, and when the details are examined, these decisions document the rightness of Azerbaijan in international law (Ramazanov, 2016: 151-152; (Cavadov, 2008: 46).

1. Article 1 of Resolution 822 decrees the termination of armed conflicts and the evacuation of the occupied areas of Azerbaijan, including Kelbajar (Ramazanov, 2016: 152). The 3rd article of the decision included the obligation of the parties to comply with the rules of international law and the necessity of unhindered access for the efforts of helping the civilian population (U.S. Department of State, 2001-2009).

2. Resolution 853 once again proves the prohibition of the use of force to acquire new territories and the inviolability of internationally recognized borders. The 1st article of the resolution condemned the capture of Agdam and all other recently occupied regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the hostile actions carried out in the region, especially the attacks on civilians and the bombing of settlements; In Article 3, it was demanded that the Armenian occupying troops be removed from these regions immediately, completely and unconditionally (U.S., 2001-2009).

3. The necessity of removing the armed forces from the occupied territories in Article 5 of the Resolution No. 874 was confirmed once again (U.S., 2001-2009). In the decision, it was stated that international borders cannot be violated and the acquisition of territory through the use of force is unacceptable, the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh being Azerbaijani territory was mentioned again, and it was called for ceasefire negotiations to begin (Uzar, 2017: 73).

4. The resumption of hostilities and the ceasefire between the parties, the recent violations, especially the occupation of the Zangelan district and the attacks on the civilians of the city of Horadiz and the bombardment of the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the necessity of removing the Armenian troops from these regions were discussed in Resolution 884 (U.S., 2001-2009).

With the 4 resolutions of the UN Security Council summarized above, along with the efforts of Azerbaijan, some resolutions were taken against the occupation policy of Armenia in the 62nd and 63rd sessions of the UN General Assembly (Ramazanov, 2016: 153).

In these resolutions, it was affirmed that the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and international borders are inviolable, and it was clearly stated that Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan. However, as it is known from the theory of realism, power has been the major factor in the resolution of conflicts between states, and the Armenians in Karabakh, with the support of Armenia and Russia, gained superiority over Azerbaijan and subjected the Karabakh region to a race-based cleansing. Although there was an Azerbaijani-sided approach in terms of law, the Armenians were successful because they received the support of Russia. Since there is no world state in international relations and international organizations do not automatically operate, the decisions taken could not be implemented, and Armenia's actions remained unrequited. Since the great powers would not gain a serious benefit from the region in question, Azerbaijan could not regain its lands despite being the rightful party, and the great powers did not intervene militarily in the liberation of Karabakh (Uzar, 2017: 73).

In 1994, the UN Secretary-General submitted a report to the General Assembly noting the advanced seriousness of the situation in Azerbaijan. He discussed that the war affected regions far from conflicts, the disruptions in health and social services, the significant decrease in the level of living, the damage to the infrastructure in the country as a result of the conflicts and the unusable agricultural lands (Ekici, 2017: 73-74).

This violation of law by Armenia requires Security Council action in accordance with a procedure in international law. The provisions that can be accepted by the UN, although the resolutions are not implemented, may be of a military or civilian nature. Parties that do not comply with the demands of the Security Council are subject to sanctions, including terminating all relations with this state and using military force against it (Ramazanov, 2016: 152).

With the power of Ilham Aliyev, the countries supporting Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue increased in number (Baba-zada, 2017: 25). On March 14, 2008, in the UN General Assembly resolution on “The Situation of the Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan”, the resolution approved by 7 votes against and 39 votes in favor of the integrity of Azerbaijani lands, the unconditional expulsion of Armenians from the occupied territories, the return of Azerbaijanis to their lands. expected to return. 3 of the 7 states that did not approve the decision in question have the title of co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group; USA, France and Russia. After these states rejected the decision in favor of Armenia in the voting, the Azerbaijani public lost their trust in the Minsk Group (Khalilov, 2008: 99).

In summary, the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which has also been approved by the UN to be Azerbaijani territory, has passed under the control of Armenians from Azerbaijan with the support of Russia and Armenia to local powers. Despite the prohibition of gaining territory by force, the principles of not disturbing the territorial integrity of the countries and not interfering in their internal affairs, and despite the current UN resolutions, it seems unlikely that Azerbaijan will regain its lands by existing methods without sufficient military force (Uzar, 2017: 74).

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