OSCE Minsk Group plans visiting region
The success of a petition, which was addressed to the White House in 2016 and was calling on the Obama administration “to assist in the liberation of the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia”, has put Armenia under increasing pressure due to the level of awareness it raised.
The remark was made by Elkhan Suleymanov, President of the Association for Civil Society Development in Azerbaijan, who initiated the petition.
“The White House’s response to our petition was real political support to Azerbaijan," Suleymanov said.
The petition on “Establishing Justice and Preventing a Great Catastrophe” calls for the immediate withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions, and to assist in the prevention of a humanitarian catastrophe in the region because of the dangers posed by the neglected Sarsang dam, which is located in the Armenian-occupied territory.
The US-based Pew Research Center reported that this petition has become the second most popular in the history of the platform, receiving more than triple the signatures needed to secure a reply by the Obama administration.
The White House, in its response to the petition, stressed the importance of “the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan’s control” and urged Armenia and Azerbaijan “to demonstrate restraint and enter into an immediate negotiation on a comprehensive settlement,” which would include “a determination of Nagorno-Karabakh’s status.”
The petition was submitted in the wake of Resolution 2085 adopted last year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which accused Armenia of “environmental aggression” and deliberately depriving Azerbaijanis of water flowing from the Sarsang reservoir. It also called for “the immediate withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the region concerned.”
“We had important victories last year,” Suleymanov said, futher voicing regret that Armenia has not reacted to these demands and instead “creates confusion in the international community by presenting itself as a conflict party rather than an aggressor.”
“It is critical that we continue to raise this issue, keep up international pressure and achieve the imposition of sanctions on Armenia,” Suleymanov said. By Rashid Shirinov
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, established for peaceful resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan NagornoKarabakh conflict, are closely negotiating to determine the most appropriate time for visiting the region.
Interim U.S. co chair Richard Hoagland announced about this while talking to APA. Hoagland, a diplomat with over 30 years of experience, replaced James Warlick, who stepped down on December 31.
Noting that he is honored to be a co-chair of the OSCE MG, Hoagland said that he had carefully studied the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in the course of his career, most of which he spent on the area of former Soviet Union.
“I know that the resolution of this conflict is possible through the political will of all parties involved,” the co-chair said.
Hoagland also voiced intention to work closely with his fellow cochairs to encourage the parties to actively participate in the conflict resolution process.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acts as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, it failed to make any move to achieve a breakthrough in the peace process so far.
Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day.