“Azerbaijan is constantly working. For example, they have created a platform of peace, are taking some Armenians to Baku, arrested prominent blogger Alexander Lapshin thru Belarus, therewith trying to make people visiting Karabakh fear. They found a country where it seems dangerous for people who visited Karabakh. Recently, PACE passed a resolution on freedom of expression which was negative for Armenia, and so on. This is also a part of Azerbaijani general plan,” said political scientist Stepan Grigoryan in an interview with Aravot.am, referring to the problems faced for the extension of the mission of the OSCE Office in Armenia.
Today, at the OSCE Permanent Council session of held in OSCE HQ, using its right to veto, Azerbaijan voted against the extension of the mandate of the mission. Earlier, Armenia had made some concessions, refusing to implement the humanitarian demining project although the program was within the mandate of the office. The political scientist draws attention to the fact that Azerbaijan manages to intervene in the activities of Armenia also in the platforms where it is not a member. We are talking about CSTO and the problems faced for the second year to ratify Armenia’s chair in this organization.
Since only Russia and the United States have the right to veto in the OSCE by paying most of the expenses of this organization, Stepan Grigoryan is concerned that this posture by Azerbaijan is agreed with Russia too. “All this is happening because the Armenian side does not respond. And the Azerbaijani side is increasingly becoming cynical in its manifestations,” says our interlocutor, suggesting Armenia to be against the activities of the OSCE Office in Turkey in response to the non-extension of the mandate of the OSCE Office in Armenia, “Just to be against without any reason. We do not want and that’s it.”
If the case of such a move by Armenia, the expert is convinced that many European countries will react positively, “If we do not respond, tomorrow Azerbaijan will resort to other moves.” Our interlocutor also has one more offer in connection with Alexander Lapshin’s case: to collect all Belarus opposition members in Armenia who are against Alexander Lukashenko and are scattered all over the world and hold a conference.
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