Envoy: Still no desired result from OSCE MG

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

The OSCE Minsk Group has not yet achieved the desired result in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu said in an interview with TASS on July 3.

“The format itself, which includes three permanent members of the UN Security Council, looks very serious. Namely these countries have huge political weight and relevant experience, developed for decades if not centuries of their national diplomacies’ activities,” he said.

However, he added, the institution of triple co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group, established in 1997, has not led to the desired result – the start of eliminating military consequences of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and its political settlement.

The OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, the U.S. and France, is working to find a peaceful solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. While the Minsk Group acts as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, it failed to make any move to achieve a breakthrough in the peace process so far.

“Azerbaijan has been emphasizing that the time has long come to take effective steps to resolve the conflict,” Bulbuloglu said, adding that the current status quo, particularly the ongoing occupation of Azerbaijan’s territory, is unacceptable.

The ambassador noted that heads of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries also pointed this in their statements in 2009-2013. "That is, now conditions should be ensured for continuing substantive talks with the intent to achieve tangible results.”

Bulbuloglu stressed that the talks should be specific, because in this particular case, it is the result that matters and not the process.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.