Armenia sues Turkey at ECHR over role in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Duvar English

Armenia has filed a lawsuit against Turkey at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) saying that Turkey provided assistance to the Azerbaijani armed forces during the conflict.

The ECHR on May 18 that it had received a completed application form from Armenia in the interstate case on May 9.

The court said that Armenia's application has opened the proceedings about alleged violations of the European Convention on Human Rights and the body will initially examine the admissibility of the application.

Although the ECHR has not revealed the content of Armenia's complaints, Russia’s TASS news agency said that Turkey was being accused of recruiting Syrian mercenaries and sending them to Azerbaijan to take part in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

"Armenia has lodged an interstate complaint with the ECHR against Turkey over its convention violations by means of recruiting Syrian mercenaries during the 44-day war, sending them to Azerbaijan and offering military assistance to Azerbaijan,” Armenia’s mission to the ECHR was quoted as saying by TASS news agency on May 18.

“In particular, the Armenian government insists that Turkey violated the rights of the people of Armenia and Artsakh (unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic - TASS) to freedom, inviolability, property, private and family life," the mission reportedly said.

Several reports and NGOs previously said that thousands of Syrian mercenaries allied with Turkey joined the fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh during last fall.

Azerbaijan and Turkey have instead consistently denied reports that foreign mercenaries were on the ground.

Following six weeks of fighting over the region, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia in November 2020 signed an agreement to end the military conflict.