OSCE Minsk Group Ignores Azerbaijan’s Bellicose Statements, Aggression: NKR NGOs (updated)

The Council of Non-Governmental Organizations of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic have issued a statement in response to the OSCE Minsk Group decision to conduct a Field Assessment Mission in the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.

The statement reads:

“In connection with the decision on conducting an OSCE Field Assessment Mission on the liberated territories of the NKR, members of the NKR Council of NGOs consider it necessary to state that:

“We perceive the OSCE Field Assessment Mission as an action, which is escalating tension in the region of the conflict and which is not expected to contribute to the process of the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict.

“While official Baku is voicing threats against the NKR and its people and the Azerbaijani leadership is continuously threatening with a resumption of war, while during the last few months the Line of Contact is being under heavy fire on a daily basis and people are dying, while the Azerbaijani armed forces keep on attempting reconnaissance and sabotage actions in the territory of the NKR, while Baku only confirms its aggressive intentions with its flat refusal to withdraw snipers from the Line of Contact, the OSCE Minsk Group mediators instead of dealing with all these issues are organizing a mission, which looks like an attempt to appease the aggressive party.

“We, the representatives of the Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] public, do not understand why the war rhetoric of the Azerbaijani leaders and the aggressive behavior of the Azerbaijani armed forces, threatening to escalate into a large-scale war, remain out of the attention and the adequate targeted assessment of the OSCE Minsk Group. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, which assumed responsibility for the peaceful settlement of the conflict, have to make every effort to prevent violence and any kind of activity, provoking an escalation of tension.

“Moreover, it is absolutely clear that Baku will use the results of the OSCE Field Assessment Mission to intensify the information war, just as the political readership of Azerbaijan is continuing its cynical speculations over the results of the work of previous OSCE Missions.

“The one-sided character of the upcoming OSCE Field Assessment Mission, in our opinion, also cannot give a positive impulse to the process of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement.

“For the mission to be able to give a complete picture, it should also simultaneously take place in the territories of the NKR, occupied by Azerbaijan. 

“The Field Assessment Mission should also draw the attention of the public to the facts of vandalism towards the Armenian historical and cultural monuments in these territories, aimed at the destruction of any historical and cultural evidence of continued Armenian presence in those lands, including through populating these territories with Azerbaijanis.

“We protest against the mediators’ disregard of the rights of the Armenian refugees and displaced persons.

“Besides, Armenians that have once been deprived of their Homeland by being forcibly expelled from Azerbaijan and found shelter on the liberated territories again will be subjected to psychological pressure and stress and for some reason to maintain their right to life on this land.

“We strongly believe that any decision should be based on parity, as well as proceed from the principles of equal rights and justice, accommodating the opinions of all societies involved in the conflict, and most importantly, it should serve to prevent tension and violence and establish lasting peace.”