Non-settled conflicts and millions spent by OSCE - COMMENT

Baku. 20 June. REPORT.AZ/ The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs' visit to Baku as well as to Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region occupied by Armenia and Yerevan has completed. co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Richard Hoagland of the United States of America, Stephane Visconti of France, Igor Popov of Russia together with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk made a joint statement on results of the visit to the region.

Notably, the co-chairs met with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on June 10 and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on June 19. On June 12, they also visited occupied Zangilan, Gubadli, Kalbajar and Lachin regions of Azerbaijan, met with representatives of the Armenian community in Karabakh and with representatives of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh in Baku.

The co-chairs stated to meet in Vienna on July 3.

The diplomats have again made a statement that has no difference from those of the previous ones. The co-chairs said that they will travel to Vienna to brief the members of the Minsk Group on July 3.They also stressed the plan to meet again soon with the Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers.

Traditionally, co-chairs expressed deep concern over the recent violations of the ceasefire, stated substantial talks and political will as only solution to establish long-term peace. It was noted that the presidents have stated their intention to continue political dialogue to find a compromise on the most controversial issues on the settlement of the conflict.

Apparently, neither behavior of international mediators nor their statements contain any implication about liberation of Azerbaijani lands.

They make these trips to visit as they get a very high salary for this job.

By the way, one million Euros per year spent for the OSCE Minsk Group, which operates for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This year 911,200 EUR allocated for the activity.

The budget of the office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk will be 1,235,800 EUR.Totally 3,861,900 EUR allocated to South Caucasus.

Notably, on June 1, the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna approved the organization's budget for 2017. The OSCE is funded by contributions from the 57 member countries.

As Nagorno-Karabakh is still under occupation, it can be concluded that the OSCE allocates funds to keep Azerbaijani lands under occupation as the co-chairs' statement and unchangeable situation confirm that. So far, the mediators have not said that the Azerbaijani lands are under occupation and have not named the attacker. They believe they have done their job by making statements on ceasefire, peaceful settlement of the conflict in different ways. They do not hesitate to talk about meaningless compromise. What do the mediators mean when they say compromise? What kind of concessions can we talk about when all issues are as clear as day? Invader and aggressor is known. It is Armenia. Azerbaijan subjected to occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh.

When all issues are so clear and obvious, what do mediators want and what compromise they talk about? Their behaviour and policies of the states they represent show that concession must be made by the Azerbaijani side. In fact, Armenia must complete the issue of compromise by withdrawal from the occupied territories and not making territorial claims to the neighbouring state. A variety of documents, including a peace agreement can be signed between the parties afterwards.

This can be considered as a common stand of the Azerbaijani society.

However, millions of funds have been spent on international mediators to resolve the conflict. More than 25 years, Azerbaijan has been providing assistance to the displaced people, allocating funds. In other words, solution to this conflict cost billions of dollars. The result is zero. None of the conflicts in the former USSR have been solved. It turns out that the conflicts are also a project for international mediators to spend financial resources.