Azerbaijan hopes for ‘elimination of negative tendencies’ at OSCE
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijan, as a member of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), would like for the negative tendencies observed in the organization's activity to be eliminated, Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told journalists on October 21.
Azimov said the OSCE should be an organization of all member states and double standards in its activity are inadmissible.
According to him, Azerbaijan is ready to continue its activity within such an organization.
Referring to the ceasefire breach during the OSCE monitoring on the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, Azimov said the ceasefire violation came as no surprise.
Azimov said such provocations are carried out by the Armenian side almost daily and the violation of the ceasefire during the monitoring is one of them.
OSCE holds regular monitoring on the frontline under the mandate of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Personal Representative.
The armistice breach by Armenian armed forces suspended a regular OSCE monitoring on the Line of Contact between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops located south of the village of Ashagi Seyidahmadli in Azerbaijan's Fizuli region on October 17.
Azimov went on to say that the field assistants and the personal representative of the OSCE chairperson have not clearly assessed the situation from 1997 until now.
"For some unknown reason, the personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, and his assistants have not determined the line of fire, so there is a sense of impunity," Azimov said.
Azerbaijan's benefit to other states
Speaking about Azerbaijan's accession to the Eurasian Customs Union, Azimov said that Azerbaijan is a country that relies on itself and uses its national and economic resources.
According to him, there are a lot of aspects that need to be addressed.
"In general, Azerbaijan is a country involved in the collaboration of a broader format. Today Azerbaijan is making a major contribution within economic and political frameworks," Azimov said.
He pointed out that there is no need to change the country's comprehensive policy.
"Azerbaijan is a member of the international community and organizations, and I do not see much benefit in making unilateral decisions," Azimov said.
He also said that there are countries that capitalize on the potential of Azerbaijan, adding that Azerbaijan is a country that benefits other states and makes a significant contribution to European energy security.
"Therefore, adherence to a particular one-sided format, in my opinion, would be inappropriate, because Azerbaijan should not look in one direction," he said.
Azimov stressed that Azerbaijan acts in all directions in accordance with its own interests.
The Eurasian Customs Union is a form of trade and economic integration of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia which envisions a single customs territory. The Customs Union of the three countries began operating in January 2012.
Customs duties and economic restrictions are not used in the mutual trade of goods with the exception of special protective, antidumping and countervailing measures within this territory. The member countries of the customs union apply a unified customs tariff and other common measures to regulate trade in goods with third countries.
Moscow incident
Referring to the events regarding Azerbaijani citizen Orkhan Zeynalov in Moscow, Azimov said that an investigation and trial into any criminal incident should be carried out normally and in accord with the standing legislation.
According to him, the Azerbaijani side, taking into consideration the relation of its citizen to the incident that took place on the territory of another state, not only speaks for but also demands a transparent investigation of the issue within the legislation.
Azimov said there are relevant international principles and norms, relevant legislation for this and Azerbaijan will uphold this position.
He added that on the other hand, the issue has been excessively and unreasonably inflated in Russia.
"I wonder who's behind this. Similar unpleasant incidents are possible. The crime situation in Russia as known to be very tense. In such a big city as Moscow, there were other incidents happening on the same day, however, they weren't in the spotlight as the public didn't pay attention to them. One can see some kind of artificiality here," Azimov said.
The deputy minister said that if there are forces that aspire to negatively affect the Russian-Azerbaijani relations, they should properly assess the situation in order to avoid the backfire effect later.
A 25-year-old Russian citizen from Moscow, Yegor Shcherbakov, was killed on October in the Biryulevo district, which stirred up public resentment and eventually led to riots. The police detained Azerbaijani citizen Orkhan Zeynalov in the Moscow vicinity on suspicion of murder and brought him to the capital.
The Azerbaijani side issued a note to the Russian Foreign Ministry requesting provision of consular assistance to Zeynalov.
Hundreds of Russian nationalists demanding the catch of the killer attacked the Biryuza shopping centre and Pokrovsky fruit and vegetable base in West Biryulevo and beat migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia working in the center and the market.
Special units had to arrive at the scene. During the clashes, a large number of migrants and locals were injured. After these incidents one Azerbaijani citizen and one Uzbek citizen were brutally killed in Moscow.