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Global Insight
June 15, 2012
Azerbaijan Defies International Mediators' Calls to Withdraw Snipers
from Border Areas
BYLINE: Lilit Gevorgyan
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has dismissed calls for
Azerbaijan to withdraw snipers from its border areas from Armenia made
by Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore,
whose country currently holds the prestigious chairmanship of the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The
organisation has been involved in the peace resolution process since
1994 when its Minsk Group co-chaired by France, Russia and US,
negotiated a ceasefires between Azerbaijan, the breakaway mainly
ethnic Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region and Armenia.
Gilmore arrived in Azerbaijan on 14 June from the Armenian capital
Yerevan. His visit comes as scores of military personnel on both sides
were killed in two incursions into the north-eastern Tavush region in
Armenia, which is far from the actual Line of Contact (LOC) between
Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan denied that the incursions
happened. On 14 June Mammadyarov was quoted as saying that Azerbaijan
"would be ready to withdraw snipers if Armenia started withdrawing
from Azerbaijan's occupied territory... In the current circumstances,
however, that would strengthen the status quo." Gilmore insisted that
there can only be a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Significance:Azerbaijan's dismissal of the OSCE's calls to de-escalate
the tense situation along the LOC and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border
is a worrying development. In the past three years the situation has
been steadily worsening. Peace is maintained thanks to military
deterrents as well as the restraining influence of Russia between the
parties as there are no international peacekeepers or even monitors.
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh insist that international monitors be
deployed to establish the perpetrators for the escalation of violence.
Mammadyarov's remarks of changing the status quo are in line with
President Ilham Aliyev's increasingly frequent threats of a new war.
Azerbaijan, bolstered by its military build-up, is confident that it
would come out victorious; the Azerbaijani General Staff of Armed
Forces were quoted saying that they would need 10 days to finish the
war. The failure to secure at least token backing for the call of
withdrawal of snipers in Baku puts the Irish presidency of OSCE in a
difficult position. The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers are
due to meet in Paris on 18 June, where the Minsk Group is expected
once again make a firm commitment to the peaceful resolution of the
conflict.
June 15, 2012
Azerbaijan Defies International Mediators' Calls to Withdraw Snipers
from Border Areas
BYLINE: Lilit Gevorgyan
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has dismissed calls for
Azerbaijan to withdraw snipers from its border areas from Armenia made
by Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore,
whose country currently holds the prestigious chairmanship of the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The
organisation has been involved in the peace resolution process since
1994 when its Minsk Group co-chaired by France, Russia and US,
negotiated a ceasefires between Azerbaijan, the breakaway mainly
ethnic Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region and Armenia.
Gilmore arrived in Azerbaijan on 14 June from the Armenian capital
Yerevan. His visit comes as scores of military personnel on both sides
were killed in two incursions into the north-eastern Tavush region in
Armenia, which is far from the actual Line of Contact (LOC) between
Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan denied that the incursions
happened. On 14 June Mammadyarov was quoted as saying that Azerbaijan
"would be ready to withdraw snipers if Armenia started withdrawing
from Azerbaijan's occupied territory... In the current circumstances,
however, that would strengthen the status quo." Gilmore insisted that
there can only be a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Significance:Azerbaijan's dismissal of the OSCE's calls to de-escalate
the tense situation along the LOC and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border
is a worrying development. In the past three years the situation has
been steadily worsening. Peace is maintained thanks to military
deterrents as well as the restraining influence of Russia between the
parties as there are no international peacekeepers or even monitors.
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh insist that international monitors be
deployed to establish the perpetrators for the escalation of violence.
Mammadyarov's remarks of changing the status quo are in line with
President Ilham Aliyev's increasingly frequent threats of a new war.
Azerbaijan, bolstered by its military build-up, is confident that it
would come out victorious; the Azerbaijani General Staff of Armed
Forces were quoted saying that they would need 10 days to finish the
war. The failure to secure at least token backing for the call of
withdrawal of snipers in Baku puts the Irish presidency of OSCE in a
difficult position. The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers are
due to meet in Paris on 18 June, where the Minsk Group is expected
once again make a firm commitment to the peaceful resolution of the
conflict.