Armenia and Azerbaijan faced off Thursday at the United Nations' top court with Yerevan demanding the pullout of Baku's troops in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Yerevan also petitioned the International Court of Justice to allow the safe return of Armenians to the breakaway region of Azerbaijan.

The hearing followed Azerbaijan's takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh in a lightning military offensive last month that defeated separatists in the Armenian enclave. Some 120,000 Armenians in the region then fled to neighboring Armenia.

The separatist Karabakh authorities announced that the self-proclaimed republic will be dissolved on 1 January 2024.

Yerevan accused Azerbaijan of conducting a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" to clear Nagorno-Karabakh of its Armenian population.

Baku strongly denies the claim and has publicly called on Armenian residents of the territory to stay and "reintegrate" into Azerbaijan.

The mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh was populated mainly by Armenians and has been part of Azerbaijan since the fall of the Russian Empire.

It unilaterally proclaimed its independence with the support of Armenia when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

The ICJ rules on disputes between states but while its decisions are legally binding, it has no power to enforce them.

Thursday's hearings at the iconic Peace Palace in The Hague are the latest in a long-running legal battle between the two rival countries.