On December 22, 2011, the OSCE Permanent Council approved the Unified Budget of the organization for 2012. Along with this, the Permanent Council discussed a request to increase the funding for the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office (CiO) to ensure sufficient resources to investigate potential incidents on the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, in pursuance of the agreements of February 6, 1995 signed by the three parties to the conflict (Nagorno Karabakh, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) through the mediation of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Conference.
The idea of increasing the funds for the Office of the CiO Personal Representative was widely supported by the OSCE member-states. It is symbolic that the idea was opposed only by the Azerbaijani delegation, which explained its position by the fact that it could not approve additional funding for the Office until a final agreement on the details of the mechanism of the incidents’ investigation was achieved.
Unfortunately, it is not the first time we face a situation where the actions of the Azerbaijani leadership fully contradict the earlier statements and agreements at the highest level, in particular, the agreements achieved in Sochi on March 5, 2011 by the Presidents of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
This confirms once again that Azerbaijanis not interested in the investigation of incidents on the Contact-Line, since it will be eventually established that it is the Azerbaijani party that periodically exercises provocations, thereby deepening the hostility and distrust of the parties towards each other and driving the negotiation process to a deadlock.