At the U.N. court, Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of ethnic hatred

Armenia has requested the International Court of Justice to impose urgent interim measures to prevent Azerbaijan breaching an international convention to stamp out ethnic discrimination.

Armenia accused its neighbouring country Azerbaijan of systematically promoting ethnic hatred against the Armenian citizens, as the two nations that fought a six-week war last year faced off at a U.N. court on Thursday.

The Armenian representative Yeghishe Kirakosyan made the accusation as a hearing opened at the International Court of Justice into a request by Armenia for judges to impose urgent interim measures to prevent Azerbaijan breaching an international convention to stamp out ethnic discrimination.

The case stems from longstanding enmity that boiled over into last year's war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh that left more than 6,600 people dead. The region is within Azerbaijan but had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of a separatist war in 1994.