Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 10
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:
Alas, doctors, who must medically treat people, maim people very often because of a lack of professionalism. Officials take bribes instead of serving people. The international institutions complicate the conflict settlement process instead of bringing peace.
We would not like the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement to be an indirect cause of launching hostilities in the region, but everything leads to this outcome.
The mediators, who must help resolve the conflict, i.e., help de-occupy the Azerbaijani lands and return one million refugees and internally displaced people home, have indirectly become responsible for the status quo preserving in the region.
It is alerting that they showcase displeasure while commenting on a draft resolution approved by PACE's Political Affairs Committee Nov. 4, where the organization urged to withdraw Armenia's army from Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
The same resolution also called on to recognize the full sovereignty of Azerbaijan over the said territories as part of the Minsk process.
Immediately after the resolution was issued, the Minsk Group's US Co-Chair James Warlick tweeted that PACE and other organizations should consult with the OSCE Minsk Group before adopting resolutions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's settlement.
Later, Russia's Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov expressed the same opinion in Yerevan.
The OSCE Minsk Group is supposed to support any initiatives of other international organizations that can lead to progress which it hasn't achieved in 20 years of activity. However, it is surprising that this institute opposes the interference of other forces in the issue of settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
If you can't help, then do not hinder others. But the attitude of the co-chairs to this issue suggests that the secret mission of the OSCE Minsk Group is to maintain the status quo.
At the same time, only Yerevan is satisfied with the current situation, when Armenia occupies Azerbaijani territories with impunity, and even resents when the country itself is reminded of this fact. One wouldn't want to descend to suspicions in conspiracy, but interests in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are supported somewhat too one-sidedly.
Such situation makes it necessary to become seriously concerned about the interests of Azerbaijan and the necessity of presence of at best useless and at worst dangerous mediator, the OSCE Minsk Group, in the peace process over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Elmira Tariverdiyeva is the head of Trend Agency's Russian News Service
