Prominent International Lawyer Karnig Kerkonian warns that Armenia’s willingness to withdraw its international legal cases against Azerbaijan”even as it secures decisive victories”would be a grave mistake with devastating consequences, reports Zartonk Media.
He emphasizes that these cases are not bargaining chips, but critical judicial actions exposing Azerbaijan’s aggression and atrocities against Artsakh and Armenia. Withdrawing them now, “just as rulings confirming Azerbaijan’s violations of international law are within reach,” Kerkonian states, would mean not only forfeiting legal narratives but also abandoning moral authority, state sovereignty, and the truth itself.
He cautions that “withdrawing these cases won’t bring peace. On the contrary, it will invite impunity by Azerbaijan, erasing hard-won victories that are publicly holding Azerbaijan accountable.” History, he warns, has repeatedly shown that appeasement invites further aggression, ethnic cleansing, and ultimately, genocide.
Kerkonian, a Harvard, Cambridge, and University of Chicago-educated international lawyer, is a leading expert on international law and Armenian legal affairs. His work has been instrumental in advancing Armenian and Artsakh rights in courts around the world.
