The letter of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, addressed to the UN Secretary-General on July 21, 2023, regarding the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) dated July 6, was circulated as a document of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly.
The letter pointed out that this unanimous decision rejecting Armenia's request 'actually vindicates Azerbaijan’s sovereign right to secure and protect its borders.' It was noted that on April 23, 2023, Azerbaijan established the Lachin border checkpoint to prevent Armenia's misuse of the Lachin road for military purposes, transportation of our country's natural resources and continuation of the mine threat.
"Azerbaijan established the Border Checkpoint in April 2023 on the Hakari Bridge, which sits at the entrance to the Lachin-Khankandi Road (the 'Lachin Road') on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border," the letter says noting that Azerbaijan took this step to put an end to Armenia’s persistent misuse of the Lachin Road both to import weapons, military equipment and soldiers into Azerbaijan’s sovereign territory, and to smuggle illegally mined minerals from the Karabakh Economic Region of Azerbaijan.
On July 6, 2023, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) unanimously rejected Armenia’s request of May 12, 2023, for modification of the Court’s February 22, 2023 Order in the Armenia v. Azerbaijan case concerning the Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.