Nalbandian: Baku struck a blow at the OSCE mission in the region,  refusing to join the consensus on the extension of the mandate of the  Yerevan office

ArmInfo. The flouting of common norms and principles is not spontaneous, nor is it surprising that the OSCE member state, which defied the Yerevan office of the  Organization, was left alone and was isolated. Armenian FM Edward  Nalbandian stated this in Vienna on July 11 during a speech at the  informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the OSCE member states.

The statement particularly reads as follows:  "Joining efforts with a  view to overcoming distrust and increasing confidence is enshrined in  the birth certificate of this Organization, while dialogue and  cooperation have been long identified as the instruments for  achieving our common goals. We appreciate the Chairmanship's  initiative to once again apply to the foundations of the OSCE, since  neither dialogue, nor cooperation can be taken as granted nowadays.   We hope that this kind of discussions can contribute to reviving the  true spirit of cooperation, being mindful that the most noticeable  accomplishments of the OSCE have been secured through dialogue and  compromise, political will and good faith.

The setbacks of our cooperation and erosion of trust do not merely  limit to the existing disagreements on number of areas. Here we refer  also to the abuse of the principle of consensus, the consequences of  which go far beyond from damaging the trust, especially in the cases  where there is none, but rather shaking the very essence of the OSCE  which is designed to solve the issues through dialogue and  cooperation and never through imposing the position of one  participating State at the expense of all others and the entire  Organization.  Thus, the refusal of Azerbaijan to join the consensus  on the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Office in Yerevan damages  not merely the integrity of the field missions of the OSCE but its  capacity of inclusive cooperation in implementing the commitments.  Azerbaijan failed to respect the OSCE commitments back home and  eliminated the OSCE Office in its own country before it attacked and  closed the OSCE last assets in the region.

The violation and abuse of shared norms and principles do not happen  in a vacuum. It does not come as a surprise that this participating  State found itself alone and in isolation in challenging the OSCE  Office in Yerevan.  The dire record of Azerbaijan's noncompliance  encompasses all three dimensions of the OSCE. The leadership of  Azerbaijan uses every opportunity to boast about multiculturalism  allegedly cultivated by them. In reality thousands masterpieces of  Armenian cultural and historic heritage, sacred sites, churches,  monasteries, cross stones destroyed and erased by Azerbaijan testify  to the contrary. The 2016 report of the European Commission Against  Racism and Intolerance states: "Political leaders, educational  institutions and media have continued using hate speech against  Armenians; an entire generation of Azerbaijanis has now grown up  listening to this hateful rhetoric". It is this generation raised in  the environment of such propaganda that again and again commits  despicable crimes. How could the leadership of Baku talk about  multiculturalism at the same time declaring that "all Armenians of  the world are number one enemies of Azerbaijan"?  Probably it  considers this to be part of Baku's self-proclaimed "intelligent  power". There is nothing smart in trying to mislead the international  community, especially those countries that do not have, difficulty to  find out the truth, to warn their citizens of the Armenian origin to  avoid visiting Azerbaijan, where they will be subjected to outrageous  racist discriminating practice on the basis of their ethnicity.

In April 2016 Azerbaijan unleashed a large scale aggression against  Nagorno-Karabakh that was accompanied by the grave violations of  international humanitarian law, atrocities against the civilian  population, including children, women and elderly persons, mutilation  of the bodies, Daesh-style beheadings, which have been condemned by  international community.  The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries  initiated Summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg aimed at overcoming  the consequences of Azerbaijan's aggression as well as at creating  conducive conditions for the advancement of the negotiation process.   During the Vienna Summit it was particularly agreed upon and then  reconfirmed in St. Petersburg to establish the OSCE mechanism for  investigation of the ceasefire violations; to increase the number and  enhance the capacity of the OSCE monitors on the line of contact  between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, and on the border between  Armenia and Azerbaijan. The commitment on the exclusively peaceful  settlement of the conflict was reiterated, the strict adherence to  the 1994-1995 ceasefire agreements was emphasised.  Trust and  confidence are built when agreements are implemented. With this  understanding Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh gave their consents to  implement the mentioned high level agreements. Azerbaijan backtracked  from those agreements as it had done with prior commitments many  times before. This attitude of Azerbaijan questions its credibility  for being a party to negotiations, which honours its agreements.

In the framework of the OSCE trust means first of all trust into  Organization and its ability to address eminent security challenges  in Europe.  We firmly believe that based on the proposals of the  Co-Chairs the OSCE should enhance its presence on the ground in the  conflict zone on more permanent and stronger basis. In this respect  the OSCE could help all parties to the conflict to respect ceasefire,  avoid military escalation and build trust and confidence. The OSCE is  an organization which was created on the lessons of history and  history teaches us on many occasions that war is an outcome of  misperception and miscalculation of security environment while peace  is an outcome of trust.  Azerbaijan has chosen a different path.

People on all sides of the conflict deserve to know who pushes them  to the path of loss and suffering. Identifying the security threats  in impartial and responsible manner is important for credibility of  this Organization as well.  We took note that in their statement the  OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs identified Azerbaijan as a party who first  resorted to the violence.  This has been far not the first appeal of  the Co-Chairs addressed directly to Azerbaijan. On previous occasions  the Co-Chairs have made a number of clear cut statements calling Baku  to refrain from the escalation of the situation, to reaffirm the  commitment to peaceful settlement of the issue, to refrain from  criticizing the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries and to respect  their mandate, give up efforts to shift the conflict resolution to  other formats, to agree to the establishment of investigation  mechanism of ceasefire violations. In response to Azerbaijan's claims  that tried to question the validity of the ceasefire agreements of  1994 and 1995, the Co-Chairs clearly stated that these agreements  have no time limitation and should be strictly adhered to.

However, Azerbaijan ignores all appeals of the Co-Chair countries and  continues to stick to its highly destructive attitude at the  negotiation table and provocative actions in the conflict zone.  On  July 4th the Azerbaijani leadership once again resorted to the  tactics of notorious terrorist organizations and as many times before  used its civilian population as a human shield for shelling the  territory of Nagorno-Karabakh by heavy weaponry, including by  multiple rocket launcher systems. In response, the Defense Army of  Nagorno-Karabakh was obliged to exercise self-defense against the  aggressive actions of the Azerbaijani side. Baku clearly demonstrated  that it is not capable to comprehend the appeals of the Co Chairs.   As long as Azerbaijan fails to respect its international commitments  in compliance with 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements, refuses  to implement the Vienna and St. Petersburg Summit commitments,  especially on the creation of the mechanism for investigation of the  ceasefire violations, that can become also a mechanism for prevention  of escalation, Baku bears full responsibility for all consequences  for such behaviour.

This stresses once again the imperative for the international  community to consider more tangible means to curb Azerbaijan.  We are  bound together to advance the cause of peace and security through the  OSCE. We will continue to be actively involved in all efforts aimed  at building cooperation, consent and trust in the OSCE area.