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AZERBAIJAN 'SEEKING TO DISSOLVE OSCE MINSK GROUP'
Radio Liberty
March 19 2008
Czech Republic
Azerbaijan is pressing the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe to dissolve its so-called Minsk Group that has long been
spearheading international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said on Friday.
"They are trying to start, through the OSCE Secretariat, a process
of the dissolution of the Minsk Group," Oskanian told lawmakers in
Yerevan. "They have officially appealed [to the Secretariat.]"
The group, co-chaired by France, Russia and the United States, was
set up in 1992 and has been trying to broke a compromise solution
to the Karabakh dispute. Azerbaijani has repeatedly criticized the
three nations for their reluctance to restore its control over the
disputed enclave but has stopped short of seeking a major change in
the format of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks until now.
Still, official Baku threatened to review its relations with the
mediating powers after they voted last Friday against a UN General
Assembly resolution that upheld Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh
and demanded an "immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of
Armenian forces" from occupied Azerbaijani lands. "The UN resolution is
a serious message to Armenia and a warning for the co-chairs," Deputy
Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said at the weekend. "We will cooperate
with them on the basis of their position in the UN General Assembly."
For his part, Vilayat Guliev, a former Azerbaijani foreign minister
who currently serves as his country's ambassador to Poland, said on
Wednesday that the existence of the Minsk Group has become "useless"
and accused its co-chairs of favoring the Armenian side. "The recent
vote in the UN on the resolution presented by Azerbaijan once again
showed their strange neutrality," he told the Day.az news service.
"It appears that the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group are more
interested in the conflict's continuation than its fair resolution."
The Azerbaijani criticism may deal a further blow to the mediators'
hopes for the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani framework peace
accord on Karabakh that was formally put forward by them last
November. Diplomats involved in the talks said earlier this year that
the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed on the key points
of that accord.
Radio Liberty
March 19 2008
Czech Republic
Azerbaijan is pressing the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe to dissolve its so-called Minsk Group that has long been
spearheading international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said on Friday.
"They are trying to start, through the OSCE Secretariat, a process
of the dissolution of the Minsk Group," Oskanian told lawmakers in
Yerevan. "They have officially appealed [to the Secretariat.]"
The group, co-chaired by France, Russia and the United States, was
set up in 1992 and has been trying to broke a compromise solution
to the Karabakh dispute. Azerbaijani has repeatedly criticized the
three nations for their reluctance to restore its control over the
disputed enclave but has stopped short of seeking a major change in
the format of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks until now.
Still, official Baku threatened to review its relations with the
mediating powers after they voted last Friday against a UN General
Assembly resolution that upheld Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh
and demanded an "immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of
Armenian forces" from occupied Azerbaijani lands. "The UN resolution is
a serious message to Armenia and a warning for the co-chairs," Deputy
Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said at the weekend. "We will cooperate
with them on the basis of their position in the UN General Assembly."
For his part, Vilayat Guliev, a former Azerbaijani foreign minister
who currently serves as his country's ambassador to Poland, said on
Wednesday that the existence of the Minsk Group has become "useless"
and accused its co-chairs of favoring the Armenian side. "The recent
vote in the UN on the resolution presented by Azerbaijan once again
showed their strange neutrality," he told the Day.az news service.
"It appears that the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group are more
interested in the conflict's continuation than its fair resolution."
The Azerbaijani criticism may deal a further blow to the mediators'
hopes for the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani framework peace
accord on Karabakh that was formally put forward by them last
November. Diplomats involved in the talks said earlier this year that
the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed on the key points
of that accord.