The opinion report considers relations between international norms, Azerbaijan’s national legal system and political understandings of the Nagorno–Karabakh conflict. It discusses classification of Armenian actions in a context of the international law’s development and an impact of international regulations on national criminal codes. Therefore, it presents the Azerbaijani perspective on major political aspects of the Nagorno–Karabakh War and international response to Armenian occupation of Azerbaijan’s territories. Moreover, it evaluates Armenian actions in the region with reference to the definition of genocide and international policy of its prevention. In general, the opinion report shows how the Azerbaijani society understands the conflict and how it may be classified on the basis of the Soviet law (as acts of terror has started in the late 1980s), the international law and the contemporary Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. As a result, it is not only a report that introduces the Azerbaijan’s perspective on the issue, but it can also be recognised as an interesting source to understand how the Azerbaijani people label actions of their neighbouring nation. 

The Third Reich’s attack on Poland on September 1, and the Soviet Union’s on September 17, 1939 – without declaring of war – was another attempt to erase the Polish state from the map of Europe. Both the invaders justified their actions, with persecution of national minorities by Polish authorities. Under the German-Soviet agreement of September 28, 1939, the Polish lands were divided between the two states as a part of a secret protocol to the non-aggression treaty between Berlin and Moscow (23 August 1939), known as the Ribbentrop–Molotov Pact. Both totalitarian ideological systems: Stalinism and Nazism began to execute extermination policy against the citizens of the Republic of Poland. This policy was aimed at destroying the leadership layers of the nation, separation from national culture and tradition (in the case of Poles, also from the Roman Catholic religion) and transforming into Knechte, a cheap working-class – in the case of Germans, and a free labour force – in the case of Soviet Union. One of the basic instruments in the implementation of anti-Polish policy was an unprecedented on such a scale forced displacement of the population. As far as Germany is concerned, so far no such manifestations of anti-Polish policy has ever taken place. During the reign of the Hohenzollern (until November 28, 1918), ethnic assimilation was accomplished by the Germanisation of the population, while in Nazi rule (starting January 30, 1933) it was decided to demote the land and to displace or to murder the population. In total, during the occupied of Poland, about 1.71 million Polish citizens have been displaced by the German authorities, more than 3 million Jews were killing, as well as 0.5 a million ethnic Poles and more than 20,000 Gypsies.

One of the basic instruments in the implementation of an anti-Polish nation policy was an unprecedented on such a scale forced displacement of population. In the case of Moscow, it was a reference to the tsarist policy of mixing the peoples of the empire. It has been systematically implemented since the days of Tsar Ivan the Terrible (1530–1584), and under Joseph Stalin’s rule, it has grown into the official ethnicity policy of the Soviet state. The extermination policy of the Soviet Union was aimed at full unification of the looted territories with the rest of the Soviet empire. It was realized through physical liquidation of Polish intelligentsia, officials of Polish state administration, police and army. Already on September 18th, right after the invasion of Poland, several thousand Poles were shot by Soviet soldiers and military police; without a trial. Forced deportations, public executions, mass murders and concentration camps are a common feature of both murderous systems: Nazism and Stalinism. Except for the gas chambers, all methods of destroying humans were already earlier applied in the East (since November 1917), and later in Nazi Germany (since January 1933). The only difference was that from June 22, 1941, Stalin was counting on emergence of a territorially unspecified Polish state, which Hitler had never planned. Poland as the only member of the Allied side in World War II was shifted territorial (and reduced by 100 thousand sq. Km compared to August 31, 1939) and forced to exchange population, and became a satellite of the Soviet Union for 45-year – all at the request of Moscow.

An Overview of the Problem of Genocide of Bosnian Muslims

The article deals with the problem of genocide of Bosnian Muslims, its main causes and consequences. It analyses international judicial decisions adopted in international practice, specifically the decision of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (1993–2017). The relevance of this topic is associated with the growing aggressiveness of the subjects of international relations, lack of principles for international legal responsibility and a mechanism for resolving such actions. The purpose of this article is to conduct a comprehensive study and analysis of the phenomenon of genocide drawing on the examples of the events in the former Yugoslavia, specifically the problem of genocide of Bosnian Muslims in international legal practice.

Famine as a political tool – the potential for use by the authorities of totalitarian regimes

The phenomenon of long-term malnutrition has very serious physiological and psycho-social effects. In addition to impairing the immune system and physically weakening the body, starvation causes aggression, apathy and alienation of individuals. Famine-affected communities are atomised and individuals functioning within them are incapable of building interpersonal relationships. Given the consequences that the phenomenon of hunger causes for individuals and communities, it can be a political tool used by the authorities of totalitarian regimes. The paper presents experiments showing the physiological and psycho-social consequences of hunger sickness and then juxtaposes their results with socio-anthropological concepts of totalitarianism. On the basis of the analysis conducted in the paper, it is shown that there is a significant correlation between the social consequences of hunger and the social character of totalitarianism. Drawing on these considerations, the paper identifies areas where hunger can be used as a political tool by the authorities of non-democratic states.