Armenia a source of great threat in region

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

The ways to find a solution to the long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have been put on the agenda this week as the OSCE Minsk Group, which is brokering the peace process, visited the region to secure a commitment from Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents for a meeting by yearend.

In a meeting with the co-chairs in Baku, President Ilham Aliyev expressed his disappointment that the international community, especially the mediators, is not adequately reacting to cruel actions of Armenia.

"Armenia has become a source of great threat in the region," Aliyev stressed.

The president’s remark came as the Armenian leadership has not given up provocations against Azerbaijan, creating conditions for the renewal of a devastating war in the South Caucasus.

President Aliyev put special emphasis on Armenia’s continuous provocations against Azerbaijan during a recent meeting with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs James Warlick of the United States, Igor Popov of Russia and Pierre Andrieu of France, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.

Armenia has substantially increased provocations on the contact line and along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in recent months causing losses of life not only among the servicemen, but also among civilians. This factor, which is in gross violation of international law and has always been condemned by the international community, has turned into a dangerous tendency to which Armenia’s military junta frequently resorts.

President Aliyev noted that an attempt by a reconnaissance-raiding group of the Armenian military to commit provocations in Azerbaijani territory was prevented this September, adding that the occupants suffered serious losses.

He emphasized that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was responsible for all of these provocations.

Standing at the head of the occupant regime, Sargsyan has done his best to disrupt peace talks and maintain the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, thus keeping under occupation 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory.

Every time when intensification is observed in the negotiation process, the Armenian military dictatorship aggravates the situation with various provocative methods against Azerbaijan.

However, it is very regrettable that these illegal and disruptive actions do not receive a due response, as the occupation of Azerbaijani territory has been ignored by the international community over 20 years.

“The Armenian armed forces regularly fire at civilians from Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, even the people who attend wedding ceremonies are shot, and as a result our civilian population suffers losses. But when the Azerbaijani side responds to such provocations, we face accusations,” the president said.

The shelling of civilians is prohibited by all international conventions. These acts violate the Geneva Convention with respect to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. However, since the emergence of the conflict, Armenia has never fulfilled its obligations under the international norms and principles and still continues to deliberately target civilians.

The Armenian military junta has become more aggressive and uncontrollable, especially when some improvement is observed in the peace talks. This clearly shows that occupant country is unwilling to reach peace with Azerbaijan and is making every effort to preserve the status quo in the conflict. With such efforts, Armenia nullifies all activities for the resolution of the long-standing conflict.

Such a tendency was also observed after the latest meeting between President Aliyev and President Sargsyan in France last October.

“Armenia launched large-scale military exercises in Azerbaijan`s occupied lands less than two weeks after the Paris negotiations of the presidents. Fight helicopters of the Armenian armed forces attacked Azerbaijan`s positions. The Azerbaijani side remained unresponsive to this for several days. Finally, the helicopters of the Armenian armed forces, which were conducting combat maneuvers over our positions, were annihilated when they openly attempted to fire at our positions,” President Aliyev said.

He also went on to note that Sargsyan's dictator regime has recently committed another political provocation by stating “Nagorno-Karabakh is an inseparable part of Armenia.”

“Unfortunately, the mediators have not responded to this unbearable statement, which is contrary even to the official position of Armenia itself,” the president said.

President Aliyev further noted that the Azerbaijani side is deeply regretful about this situation, adding that this casts a shadow on the mission of the mediators.

Armenia's provocations on rise

Armenia’s sabotage on the contact line of troops also continued during recent monitoring by OSCE representatives.

“Immediately after a routine crossing of the contact line by the co-chairs, repeated gunfire from an undetermined location forced OSCE monitors to take cover. The sides have made it an obligation to guarantee the safety of monitoring personnel. This incident represents a deliberate effort to undermine progress towards a settlement.

It also underscores the need for the OSCE to have the ability to investigate violations of the ceasefire,” the co-chairs said in the statement published on October 29 following their visit to the region.

While speaking about the ceasefire violation, the co-chairs, however, didn’t expose those guilty. Though it was obvious that the Armenian side fired upon Azerbaijani positions when the co-chairs were crossing the contact line, the mediators abstained again to name the guilty.

Such a situation, in turn gives grounds for occupant Armenia to repeat its criminal deeds.

The OSCE Minsk Group has frequently gone under strong criticism from the Azerbaijani leadership, people and the country’s political circles, as their efforts for over two decades yielded no desired results.

Some experts who have specialized on this conflict, as well as public figures, offered proposals, calling to change the contingent of the Minsk Group, or replace it with another institution.

However, the OSCE Minsk Group considers that it is working hard enough for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

James Warlick, OSCE Minsk Group’s U.S. co-chair asserted in the group’s Baku visit this October that they are doing everything they can to solve the conflict.

He stressed that the important thing is the steps taken by the heads of states, but not the statements of the co-chairs.

Warlick said that a peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is of great importance for the entire region, noting that peace must be achieved for future generations.

In their latest report, the co-chairs announced that the presidents confirmed their commitment to hold a summit under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs before the end of the year to discuss key elements of a settlement.

Moreover, one of the remarkable changes in Minsk Group’s position is that it started more often voice a need for securing the rights of refugees and internally displaced people for the settlement of the conflict.

Such a unified position coincides with Baku's position and could be considered a new approach to conflict settlement.

During a meeting with representatives of Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh in Baku, the three co-chairs stressed that no comprehensive solution can be achieved in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict without resolving the problems of all IDPs and without ensuring their right to return to their homes.

“We met with the IDPs during our last visit to Baku. We visited a family and saw their desire of returning to their native lands. This meeting impressed us,” Warlick said.

French co-chair Pierre Andrieu also noted that they are aware of the importance of the refugee factor in the settlement of the conflict.

As many experts and politicians have said before, the Minsk Group raised the issue of people’s diplomacy, which is regarded as a very important issue in settlement process of the conflict.

The co-chairs voiced support to a dialogue between the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities for a resolution to the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“We encourage dialogue among all those affected by the conflict as an essential part of the peace process, and support programs that bring Armenians and Azerbaijanis together,” the mediators said in report.