Minsk Group - 30-year legacy of ineffectiveness and good-for-nothing

The irrelevance and toothlessness of the Minsk Group, which has been flogging a dead horse since its establishment, have already been confirmed by Russia, the co-chair of the group, as well. Recently, in a press briefing, the spokesperson of the Russian MFA, Maria Zakharova, touched upon the issue and pointed out that all structures of the Minsk conference, meaning the Minsk Group and the post of the OSCE representative dealing with the Garabagh resolution, are subject to dissolution. She added that the optimal path for making such a decision would be a joint proposal by Baku and Yerevan to disband these structures.

It is worth noting that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had previously expressed a similar idea in an interview with an international media outlet. During the interview, Ilham Aliyev rightfully posed the following question: 'If Armenia has recognized Garbagh as part of Azerbaijan, and the Minsk Group was created to resolve the Garabagh issue, why is it still needed?'

Supposedly, even Armenia is in favor of the dissolution of the Minsk Group. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has stated that Armenia's stance on the idea of disbanding the OSCE Minsk Group is constructive. This raises an irony: despite two belligerent sides and one of the three co-chairs being in favor of disbanding the group, yet it continues to exist. Why?

To put this into perspective, one should look at the date Group’s establishment and the reason for its establishment. Thus, the Minsk Group was established in 1992 to moderate peaceful solutions to the Garabagh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. However, from the day it was set up, the Group proved to be toothless or biased, because it did not take any measures against Armenia to cajole it to withdraw its army from invaded Azerbaijani territories. Over the course of 30 years, the chairmen of the Group traveled to the region dozens of times and exerted fruitless efforts. The absurdity of the issue extended to such a degree that even the members of the Group started to mock their own activities. After the 44-day war, reminiscing about the halcyon days, one of them noted that they used to stay in luxury hotels and dine in the most expensive restaurants in Baku and Yerevan when they visited the region. In other words, he just admitted that it had suited them and they had been reluctant to solve the conflict. Instead, they had taken advantage of the conflict and spent a good time at the cost of the agony of millions of refugees. Their inactivity emboldened Armenia to dare to proclaim 'New Wars, New Territories' and to attack Azerbaijan, which resulted in capitulation.

More precisely, on September 27, 2020, in the wake of the Armenian attack, Azerbaijan conducted the Counter Assault Operation, which would later be dubbed in history as the Second Garabagh War, or the 44-day war, and liberated its territories from the Armenian invasion. So, this raises questions: 'If Azerbaijan liberated its territories through the war, sacrificing 2,500 of its sons and spending millions of dollars, why did we need the Minsk Group? To feed them? To entertain them in luxury hotels and restaurants?

To top it all off, the Garabagh issue has been solved, and Armenia has recognized Garabagh as an integral part of Azerbaijan. So, why do we need the good-for-nothing Minsk Group? Here is the point: Armenia has not learned a lesson from all the tragedies that happened in the last century. Or, the ineffectiveness of international organizations, including the Minsk Group, in the face of Armenia's Garabagh invasion left a sweet taste in the mouth of Yerevan. They do believe that once again they will be able to grab a territory from Azerbaijan and that is why they do their best to keep the Group alive and avoid signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. Armenia should not forget that Armenia will not get anything good from warring with Azerbaijan. It should not be forgotten that the Garabagh conflict morphed Armenia into a failed state. Every six Armenians have left the country for 30 years. The country has been isolated from all international projects traversing the region. New wars will not bring new territories. On the contrary it will much more decreasing in the population and much more economic problems.

So, as they say, action speaks louder, Armenia should come to make its move and together with Azerbaijan apply to the Minsk Group to dissolve it.