Armenian blackmail fails – OSCE leaves Caucasus
By Rashid Shirinov
Armenia has always been playing dirty with international organizations, and this has been repeatedly proven in practice. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has become the latest victim of Armenian ‘game’.
After the OSCE offices in Baku and Tbilisi were closed several years ago, the office in Yerevan remained the only in the region. Then, it was agreed that the Yerevan office wouldn’t interfere in the Karabakh issue, in settlement of which the OSCE Minsk Group is already engaged. However, the Armenian side attracted the office in demining-related activities in the occupied territories. The information from the Armenian press as well as from the Office in Yerevan confirmed that the demining-related activity of the Office is directly related to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and that the geographic scope of the activities of the recipients of assistance from the Office extends to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
This was a deliberate attempt of Armenia to use every mean possible to maintain the status quo and consolidate the occupation of Azerbaijani territories.
The move left Baku deeply disturbed, and the country repeatedly pointed out these violations and tried to achieve the cessation of this illegal activity, which violated the mandate of the OSCE itself.
Since these violations weren’t stopped, Baku resorted to the veto right and blocked the activity of the Yerevan office of the OSCE. Predictably, this caused discontent of the Armenian side.
Azerbaijani MP, political analyst Rasim Musabayov said in an interview with Day.az that objections of Baku are justified and they relate to brazen proliferation of the OSCE Yerevan office activities to the occupied Azerbaijani territories.
“Our actions are justified, and it is good that Baku has shown principle stand in this matter and used the veto,” Musabayov said.
The story with demining was actually a provocation of the Armenian side. Yerevan could not be unaware of what the reaction of Baku would be. In early2017, the permanent mission of Azerbaijan to the OSCE issued a statement in which it was noted that over the last three years Azerbaijan expressed concern about the program activities of the OSCE Office in Yerevan.
“The closure of the OSCE office in Yerevan in spite of contradictory and meaningless statements by the Armenian side is a testament of the authority of the Azerbaijani diplomacy,” Azerbaijani political analyst Ilgar Velizade told Day.az.
“As for the fact itself, it is well known that the real reason for the closure of the OSCE office in Yerevan is its involvement directly in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the analyst noted.
Azerbaijan is a supporter of diplomacy and always looks for avenues for compromise in addressing of problems. However, the Yerevan office was engaged in wrong activities and its closure is quite reasonable.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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