Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The delay in settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, double standards in relation to the problem and Armenia’s impunity for its criminal acts cause great dissatisfaction and concern of Azerbaijani public.

Especially, the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group, which has been tasked with mediating for peaceful resolution of the long-standing conflict, has long been a source of discontent. The mediation activity of the group’s three co-chairs hasn’t yielded results for over two decades.

Novruz Mammadov, deputy head of Azerbaijani presidential administration, chief of the administration’s foreign relations department has recently stated that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs do not use all possible instruments of the international law in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He said this proves that the co-chairing countries’ approach to the conflict is not fully justified, as the seven regions around Nagorno-Karabakh are under occupation and the rights of more than 850,000 refugees were violated.

Armenia captured the Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions in a bloody war in 1990s that was a result of its illegal territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

Azerbaijani MP Asim Mollazade, while assessing the activity of the Minsk Group, also noted that the co-chairs act contrary to the main documents of the organization they represent.

“Unfortunately, they are trying to justify the aggressor Armenia that occupied Azerbaijani territories and carried out ethnic cleansing against its people,” Mollazade told AzerNews.

Mollazade complained over the fact that Armenia enjoys impunity for aggression it committed against Azerbaijan.

“No sanctions were imposed against Armenia under relevant international legal norms, as it was taken against Russia,” he noted.

Mollazade believes that the main reason for this is disrespect to the rule of law in the negotiation process. “This is the biggest mistake of the OSCE Minsk Group.”

From time to time, the ineffectiveness of the OSCE Minsk Group raised discussions on replacement of the group with another institution or change in the composition of the group.

The recent meeting of James Warlick, the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group with representative of separatist regime Karen Mirzoyan in Washington caused the outrage of Baku and again renewed these discussions.

Mollazade voiced regret over such a situation and negatively assessed this meeting.

Reminding that such meetings were also held in Russia and France, he said that the MG co-chairing countries demonstrate disrespect to the international law.

He believes that if there is no change in the process, the OSCE Minsk Group’s activity will be a complete failure.

In 1994, the OSCE Budapest Summit established the so-called Minsk Group, which spearheads the OSCE's efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

It is co-chaired by France, the Russian Federation, and the United States. The group’s permanent members are Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and Turkey, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan. On a rotating basis, also the OSCE troika is a permanent member.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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