It has been more than two decades now that Azerbaijan rejects to recognize the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination. Armenia FM Edward Nalbandian stated the aforementioned at the OSCE Ministerial Council held in Belgrade.
Nalbandian stressed that Azerbaijan turns a blind eye on the fact that this very right is proclaimed by the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairing countries as one of the basic principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution, as reported by the special correspondent of Armenian News – News.am.
“Azerbaijan fails to notice that the determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will stands at the core of the settlement proposed by the Co-chairs,” the Minister said, Armenia’s MFA press-service reports.
According to him, the blatant defiance to the proposals of the Co-chairs is not the only path through which Baku tries to undermine the peace process. It also boasts about solving the conflict through the military buildup pumped by oil revenues and continues provocations on the Line of Contact with Nagorno-Karabakh and the borders with Armenia. “The cease-fire violations by Baku have reached alarming levels. Baku uses heavy weaponry and deliberately targets civilians, which resulted in high numbers of casualties. Azerbaijan has an illusion that it can gain by negotiating with guns. It does not come as a surprise that the Co-chairs directly called upon Azerbaijan to observe its commitments to the peaceful resolution of the conflict and to agree to the proposal on creating the mechanism of investigation of incidents, which Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have long accepted. The Co-chairs have also stated that Baku’s attempts to change the format or create parallel mechanisms can disrupt the negotiation process and impede progress towards a settlement. They called Azerbaijan to respect their mandate and the duties of the OSCE monitors,” Nalbandian said.
In his words, the primary obstacle to the onflict normalization is the lack of political will in Azerbaijan. “Armenia, unlike Azerbaijan, has stated many times that it is ready to continue negotiations, based on the proposals of the presidents of the Co-chair countries. As for Azerbaijan, it tries to present its distorted approaches as a position of the Co-Chairs, misinterpreting the ideas presented by foreign ministers, the statements adopted by the presidents of the Co-chair countries and even the UN Security Council resolutions. However, a mere glance reveals that the approaches of Azerbaijan contradict to the principles and elements of the five well-known statements of the heads of the Co-chair countries.
Needless to say that successful peaceful settlement requires cessation of hostilities on the ground, creation of the conditions conducive for negotiations, through full respect to the 1994 trilateral cease-fire agreement and the 1995 agreement on the consolidation of the cease-fire regime. These documents, which do not have time limitations, are agreed and signed by Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan and Armenia and are prerequisites of the peace efforts,” Nalbandian said.
He stressed that Azerbaijan tries to invoke the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in an effort to justify the noncompliance to the OSCE commitments. “Likewise, Baku attempts to divert the attention from the outrageous human rights situation in Azerbaijan and the growing international criticism in this regard by escalating the military situation in the conflict zone. We are confident that the international reaction to Baku’s policy of escalation of tensions should not be less targeted and strict as it is on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan.
Baku’s consistent policy of reducing OSCE presence in the region is another worrying trend that cannot be disregarded. Having first downgraded and then closed the OSCE Office in Baku, imposing restrictions on ODIHR election monitoring mission, now Azerbaijan is trying to curtail activities of the Personal Representative as well.
Apparently, Azerbaijan would prefer to continue its destructive policy without international witnesses. This applies also to the ICRC – the work of which Baku is continuously impeding and using for the purposes of propaganda. Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have closely cooperated with the Red Cross to address humanitarian issues, particularly that of missing persons. We value this cooperation which should be always based on status neutral approach and impartiality,” Armenian FM said.
