Baku urges Yerevan to cooperate and extradite 'criminals': Who is being referred to?
Baku urges Yerevan to cooperate and extradite criminals
Against the backdrop of court proceedings involving Armenian prisoners, Azerbaijan has called on Armenia “to cooperate.” Azerbaijan’s presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev suggested that Armenia extradite “individuals accused of war crimes.”
The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has yet to respond to this statement. Asmik Akopyan, a parliament member from the ruling “Civil Contract” faction, assured journalists that such issues are not discussed in negotiations with Baku.
However, the topic is now actively being debated in Armenian expert circles. Some believe this proposal could later become part of a peace agreement, while others argue that Azerbaijan’s goal is different – an attempt to gain more favorable treatment of the trials in Baku.
Local analysts are speculating about who Baku considers to be “war criminals.” They do not rule out the possibility that this refers to around half a million Armenians, including former officials and military personnel from Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.
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“Call for cooperation” from Hikmet Hajiyev
Azerbaijan’s presidential aide stated that the ongoing trials of Armenians in Baku have “seriously concerned Armenia’s political leadership.” He described the situation as a “propaganda campaign” against the process and interference in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs.
“Instead of conducting unnecessary propaganda against the court, the Armenian government should cooperate to promote the restoration of transitional justice and establish lasting peace in the region.
A sincere desire for peace and the initiation of new relations with Azerbaijan would, among other things, be demonstrated by Armenia’s readiness to acknowledge its responsibility and extradite those accused of war crimes, especially those who are currently hiding in Armenian territory,” Hajiyev wrote on his X blog.
This is not the first call with similar content. At the end of 2024, Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office sent a similar proposal for cooperation to the Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office.
Expert commentary
Human rights advocate and international law expert Siranuş Saakyan believes:
“Baku is attempting to involve former military-political leaders of Armenia in trials taking place in Azerbaijan, accusing them of various crimes.
Azerbaijan has neither the legal nor the moral right to make such a call for cooperation to Yerevan.
This demand would be legitimate under a number of preliminary conditions. First and foremost, if Azerbaijan were able to organize a fair judicial investigation for ethnic Armenians and create effective conditions for defense. This condition has not been met. This has been acknowledged by the European Court of Human Rights.
Furthermore, the trials of both Armenian prisoners and political prisoners have shown that Azerbaijan is incapable of providing any procedural guarantees.
Moreover, Baku has shown no willingness to cooperate in investigating crimes committed against Armenians and bringing the perpetrators to justice.
We already have cases in international courts that have been investigated by independent mechanisms. Violations of the rights of Armenian victims have been documented. For instance, the European Court of Human Rights has obliged Azerbaijan to conduct an investigation, identify its own criminals who tortured, threatened, abducted, decapitated Armenians, and bring them to justice. But Azerbaijan has not even conducted a sham investigation.”
Political analyst Garik Keryan wrote on his Facebook page:
“I roughly calculated, of course, how many former citizens of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh could be included in this list. Based on the views and legal approaches of the current Azerbaijani authorities, it turns out that the concept of ‘war criminals’ could encompass half a million citizens of Armenia.
This would include all those who served in the armies of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh over the past 28-30 years, worked in government agencies of Nagorno-Karabakh, visited Nagorno-Karabakh, and those who were on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh for a certain period of time without permission to cross Azerbaijan’s border. And this list can be continued.
It is said that out of the 17 articles of the peace agreement, only two remain unresolved. However, it is possible that new articles with similar demands could be added. And the public is unclear about the dangers contained in the 15 already agreed-upon articles.
Such statements from Baku should serve as a signal to create, instead of abstract compositions called the ‘Concept of National Security,’ an analytical center made up of highly qualified specialists. With the help of the intelligence services, they should develop action scenarios to ensure security for the next couple of years.
The situation in the region and the world is changing very rapidly. Pseudo-Western and patriotic rhetoric about protecting sovereignty, as well as the anti-Russian media circus, are not solutions to the problems.”
Historian and public figure Aramais Agabekyan stated in an interview with a local publication:
“It seems to me that by ‘criminals,’ Azerbaijan refers to individuals who held certain military positions, as well as former Presidents of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan. I wouldn’t rule out that former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan is also included in this list.
I view this proposal within the framework of Azerbaijan’s policy of creating new trump cards for its game.
This will be another card created out of nothing, which they will try to play in future negotiations or even court proceedings.
Not only in Armenia, but also in certain circles of the international community, there is interest in the trial taking place in Baku. It is absolutely clear that it in no way meets international standards. There are no foreign media there. Even Azerbaijani resources are selectively chosen. Only specific state-run publications cover the trial. Therefore, Azerbaijan is playing a new card — look, we can demand this as well.
In my opinion, Azerbaijan is more interested in gaining a loyal stance on the trial than in making a new demand in the peace agreement, asking for people to be extradited for peace.
Pashinyan will never hand Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan, or Serzh Sargsyan over to Baku. This is clear to everyone.
Although, not all of Azerbaijan’s previous demands were in the realm of possibility, but this one is definitely impossible. All of them were impossible, including, for example, Azerbaijan’s demand that Armenia not arm itself.”
