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Baku says OSCE mission revealed illegal settlements in occupied regions

29 March 2011 09:13 (UTC+04:00)
Baku says OSCE mission revealed illegal settlements in occupied regions

BAKU – The mission of OSCE mediators brokering settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict that visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan last October revealed Armenia’s continued policy of illegal settlement by the ethnic Armenians there as well as infrastructure changes and economic activities defying international law, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said on Monday.

"According to the visual appraisal and information provided by the locals, the number of illegal Armenian settlers in the occupied seven districts of Azerbaijan is roughly estimated by the Mission as 14,000 persons," the ministry said in a statement. "Some of these settlers live in rehabilitated or newly constructed housing. According to the FAM [Field Assessment Mission] observations a number of administrative, educational and medical buildings visited by the Mission in the occupied territories were constructed and/or equipped with the outside financial support of Armenian diaspora."

The FAM also observed that the administrative boundaries of the occupied territories have been extensively redrawn.

"This redrawing of the boundaries has involved both the renaming of some districts and reassigning of lands that were in the occupied territories. Furthermore, Armenians change the historical names of Azerbaijani sites and settlements, applying their names to them. Thus, the name of the city of Agdam, which had as many as 70,000 inhabitants prior to the conflict, is not even mentioned in the Armenian maps or road signs."

The mission of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs - Bernard Fassier of France, Robert Bradtke of the United States, and Igor Popov of Russia – was conducted on October 7-12 2010, with the aim to assess the overall situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan surrounding its Nagorno-Karabakh region. The visit was paid upon the request of Azerbaijan, which is concerned about continued illegal activities perpetrated by Armenia in the occupied territories, including the illegal settlement practices, economic exploitation and devastation of these territories. The Minsk Group co-chairs were joined by the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and his team, two experts from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and one member of the 2005 OSCE Fact-Finding Mission. This was the first mission by the international community to the territories since 2005, and the first visit by UN personnel in 18 years. The co-chairs announced the findings of their mission on March 24.

The Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 due to Armenia’s territorial claims. Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces since a ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks have been largely fruitless so far. Baku says the occupied districts must be freed and Azerbaijani refugees returned home, and only after that could the region’s status be determined within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, while Armenia insists that self-determination is the core principle for a settlement of the dispute. The mediators are seeking a solution leaning simultaneously on both principles.

The Azerbaijani foreign ministry said the FAM’s findings confirmed once again the attempts of Armenia to consolidate the current status-quo of the occupation which violate the fundamental norms and principles, and in particular the principle of non use of force. It said these findings and observations were noted by the co-chairs as early as in 2005, when they suggested that "any further settlement of the occupied territories should be discouraged" and "prolonged continuation of this situation could lead to a fait accompli that would seriously complicate the peace process". The co-chairs expressed the same concern and repeated the same appeal in their current recommendations. Alas, over the past six years Armenia has failed to follow the co-chairs’ appeal, continuing to disregard the principles of the conflict settlement, the ministry said.

Baku draws attention to the major statement of the FAM that the status quo in the occupied territories is unacceptable and urges Armenia to put an end to its illegal practices continuing in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijan wants to make it clear that the continuous policy of Armenia in this direction shall not be tolerated," the ministry said.

It said further that Azerbaijan supports the co-chairs’ appeal to avoid any activities in the occupied territories that would change "the demographic, social, or cultural character" of areas affected by the conflict or would make it impossible to reverse the status-quo and achieve a peaceful settlement of the long-standing conflict.

The ministry emphasized that a matter of specific concern is the FAM’s conclusion that the potential for future returns by those currently displaced in other parts of Azerbaijan is greatly complicated not only by continued occupation of the territories but also by the ruined state of these regions.

"Nearly all private and commercial property of former inhabitants has been destroyed. The regions do not offer conditions suitable for return. Any significant return of the original population would have to be proceeded by large scale rebuilding of housing and basic infrastructure."

The ministry said the presence of illegal settlers in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan hampers the ongoing negotiations and seriously undermines the prospects of achieving a lasting solution to the Karabakh conflict. That is why this problem needs to be addressed in a prompt and proper manner, it said.

"The durable solution of the conflict can be achieved only through the return of all forcibly expelled Azerbaijani population from all the occupied territories to the places of their origin. The situation currently existing in the occupied territories cannot be presented as any kind of pretext for any delay in withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from these territories and their rehabilitation."

Analysts have issued mixed opinions on the Minsk Group co-chairs’ findings.

Vafa Guluzada, an Azerbaijani former state adviser, said he deemed the mediators’ report "meaningless" from the beginning. He said the fact that 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory is under occupation and that the Armenians have razed everything to the ground there is known by the OSCE, UN and even all relevant US bodies.

"However, no one is taking action to address the situation. Therefore, there is nothing new either in the OSCE report or anyone’s attitude toward it," the analyst said.

"The report should have said that if further destructive activity is pursued against Azerbaijan, NATO will carry out against Armenia operations similar to the ones it wages against Gaddafi. But the document does not cite any such commitments. The mission just went in and then once again reiterated the things everyone already knows."

Azerbaijani analyst Mubariz Ahmadoghlu also says the OSCE mission’s report is flawed.

"This is a document that does not comply with Azerbaijan’s interests and the current spirit of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. In doing so, they are bringing a war in the region closer," Ahmadoghlu said.

But Arif Yunus, an Azerbaijani expert on conflicts, argued that the co-chairs’ report allows Azerbaijan to put pressure on Armenia "from international rostrums", as Baku is always prompted to back up its statements by facts.

"These reports are important for Azerbaijan to use at various international forums," Yunus said.

The PanArmenian.net news website has claimed that the findings of the OSCE mission are a far cry from reality. It charged that by issuing its report the OSCE is primarily prompting Armenia to hand over the occupied territories to Azerbaijan and, secondly, to appease Baku, which has made a number of warnings that it could launch military action soon to liberate the country’s occupied land. PanArmenian believes that the OSCE report, itself, is bringing the conflict parties closer to a new war.

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