“The criminal authorities of Azerbaijan have no other choice; they took the criminal path and reached the point where the peace agreement cannot be signed and receive legal force unless it is approved by the OSCE Minsk Group. That is why Aliyev is making a proposal to dissolve the Minsk Group,” political scientist Andrias Ghukasyan says in an interview with “Aravot”.
– Mr. Ghukasyan, Aliyev has made another demand, announcing that he proposed Armenia to jointly apply to the OSCE to dissolve the Minsk Group. Is it possible to dissolve the Minsk Group?
– It is impossible to comment on this without trolling. One could make a counter-proposal to Azerbaijan to immediately apply for the dissolution of the United Nations. That’s how frivolous a political idea is at the base of Azerbaijan’s proposal.
This shows that the widespread thesis of the Turkish ideology in Armenia, that if we give Artsakh there will be peace, was a lie from the beginning.
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In 1992, one of the preconditions for the recognition of the independence of Armenia and Azerbaijan was to assign the issue of Artsakh to the OSCE. At that time, it was the CSCE, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which gave a mandate to 11 states to settle the Artsakh problem on behalf of the OSCE in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Final Act. An international conference was convened for that. That conference was planned to be held in the city of Minsk, hence the name Minsk Group. We are talking about 11 states; in addition to Armenia and Azerbaijan, 9 more states have the right to make a decision under equal conditions regarding the settlement of the Artsakh problem. Three of those countries are well-known: France, the USA, and Russia, but it is also worth noting that Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Belarus, and Turkey are included in this group.
The proposal to dissolve the Minsk Group is a false agenda, but if we even try to understand the procedure of that false agenda, it implies that all OSCE states must unanimously support the dissolution of the Minsk Group’s mandate to resolve the Artsakh issue. Essentially, it is impossible both politically and legally, because the settlement of the Artsakh issue was generally a precondition for the recognition of Azerbaijan’s independence. In other words, the prerequisite for recognizing the sovereignty and equality of the people of Azerbaijan is that the resolution of the Artsakh issue should be delegated to the OSCE. And Azerbaijan cannot give up on that issue.
As for the authorities of Armenia, if these pro-Turkish authorities join this stupid political move, it will be political suicide for them, because it will be a senseless and stupid demonstration, a revolt against the entire international community. In the case of Azerbaijan, this step is understandable, because the criminal authorities of Azerbaijan have no other way out; they took the criminal path and reached the point where the peace agreement cannot be concluded and get legal force unless it is approved by the Minsk Group. That is why Aliyev makes such a proposal. That statement of the criminal party fits into some logic, but if the Armenian authorities join it, it will be political suicide. With that step, Nikol Pashinyan will cease to be a politician in the international arena. Now he is not significant, but in general, his role will disappear.
– In other words, Aliyev’s statement also proves that the Artsakh issue has not been resolved? However, in recent years, Turkey and Azerbaijan have been trying to present that there is no question of Artsakh.
– I will add that pro-Turkish Armenian authorities and propagandists in Armenia are also trying to present that the issue of Artsakh is closed. Starting from 2022, by promoting the thesis of the Turkish ideology of lowering the bar in our political life, that lie has lived until today. But it was a lie, like many other false political statements that we hear from today’s pro-Turkish authorities in Armenia. And this showed that the settlement of the Artsakh issue is a provision of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan can get rid of this obligation.
That’s what angered me these last two years when we saw government figures spreading obvious lies. It was clear that one day it would be exposed. This methodology of the authorities deprives Nikol Pashinyan and his team of authority both inside and outside of Armenia. Only naive and stupid people can take Nikol Pashinyan and his team seriously with their primitive pro-Turkish ideology. But any person with education, knowledge, and logic should not have given in to the idea of lowering the bar regarding the status of Artsakh from the beginning and should have understood that it is a lie.
Roza Hovhannisyan
“Aravot” daily newspaper
08.06.2024
