Azerbaijan filed a lawsuit against Armenia under the scope of the Bern Convention, over the country’s "extensive destruction" of the environment and wildlife throughout its three-decade occupation of the Karabakh region.
The Foreign Ministry said Baku has collected evidence of Yerevan's environmental destruction in Karabakh, internationally recognized as the territory of Azerbaijan, adding that severe harm was caused to the area's nature and biodiversity.
"Armenia's widespread deforestation, unsustainable logging, and pollution through significant construction and mining in areas that were protected nature reserves prior to occupation has put over 500 wildlife species at risk in Azerbaijan," the statement said.
It added that there is visual evidence revealing the scale of deforestation in the region, including the destruction of habitats to build the Demirli-1 copper-molybdenum mine, the Galacha hydropower plant in Lachin, and the Chardaghli coal mine.
Armenia's actions have also caused extraordinary levels of river pollution, the ministry claimed.
"In keeping with the United Nations' Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, Azerbaijan calls on the international community to condemn Armenia's appalling destruction during the occupation of one of the world's most rich and biodiverse ecosystems. Within the framework of arbitration, Azerbaijan demands Armenia cease all ongoing violations of the Bern Convention, and pay full reparation for its environmental destruction in the formerly occupied territories." read the statement.
Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
In the fall of 2020, during 44 days of heavy fighting, Azerbaijan liberated a significant part of Karabakh and a Russian-brokered peace agreement was subsequently signed.
Tensions are said to have ignited again because of protests by Azerbaijani environmental activists on the Lachin road connecting Karabakh to Armenia.
Yerevan has called on Russian peacekeepers deployed in the region to monitor the peace deal while also claiming that the road is blocked by demonstrations, something Baku denies.
Homes and forests were also set ablaze by illegally settled Armenians as they left the Lachin region following Azerbaijan's victory.
Despite successive warnings not to burn their homes or harm the environment, images have been circulating on social media showing some Armenians burning their houses and nearby forests. Footage showed Armenians setting fire to their homes in the city of Lachin and nearby villages of Zabuh and Sus, along with the surrounding forestland.