Ali Hasanov

BAKU—Azerbaijan said it plans to sue Armenia in international court for compensation due to “damage caused by the occupation,” said Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the State Committee for Work with Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov, reported the APA news agency.

Hasanov said the government had engaged international experts to assess and appraise thr so-called damages, which he estimated would be $300 billion.

“The President of Azerbaijan instructed that the appraisals should be carried out at the international level. The document is being developed with the participation of International Society of Appraisers. The document will be prepared by the international appraisers with the participation of Azerbaijani scientists, economists and NGOs representatives. The Azerbaijani government doesn’t interfere in the document and will not interfere. The Azerbaijani side will make a demand for compensation after the document is developed. It is their question whether Armenia will pay this compensation or not. For years, Armenia has not been extracting only minerals, they live at the expense of our other resources,” explained Hasanov.

The deputy minister said the reason that Azerbaijan had not taken this step until now was because it expected a conflict resolution. “But we didn’t see it and decided so.”

Hasanov said that while the recovery of economic loss is possible, but the recovery of moral damage is impossible.