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Armenian paper blames OSCE factfinding mission for pro-Azeri stance

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  • Armenian paper blames OSCE factfinding mission for pro-Azeri stance

    Armenian paper blames OSCE factfinding mission for pro-Azeri stance

    Hayots Ashkharh, Yerevan
    2 Feb 05

    Text of unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Hayots Ashkharh on 2
    February headlined "Double standards of the OSCE"

    The OSCE monitoring mission's visit to Nagornyy Karabakh and the
    monitoring of the liberated territories give the impression at fight
    sight that it is a technical measure. The members of the mission also
    confirm that their task is to complete their monitoring and prepare a
    relevant report. For this reason, they will not express any political
    position or make any statement.

    But it is more than strange that the purpose of the OSCE monitoring
    mission is only to monitor the territories controlled by the Armenian
    forces. In fact, the desire of the Armenian party to have the
    territories of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] controlled by
    Azerbaijan examined was ignored.

    And the problem is not that this mission should undoubtedly pay
    attention to the fact that Shaumyan District [Azerbaijan's Goranboy
    District] and the Armenian villages in the northeastern part of
    Mardakert District [Agdara District] are inhabited by Azerbaijanis. It
    is not the position of the monitors on Karabakh, but the political
    position of the OSCE that causes bewilderment.

    The "ideology" of this monitoring mission is not clear, as it
    obviously goes against the principles of the OSCE.

    The OSCE ignores the fact that the subject of the conflict, i.e. the
    territories controlled by the Armenian forces, or according to the
    Azerbaijani party, the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, have the
    same status as Shaumyan District and Getashen [the village of Caykand
    in Azerbaijan's Xanlar District] or the northern part of Mardakert
    District in terms of their possible settlement. They have the same
    status, as according to all international norms, including the OSCE
    standards, the recognition of the sovereign right of any state is not
    the same as the right to the forcible settlement of a region.

    That's to say, irrespective of the legal status the OSCE gives to
    Karvachar (Kalbacar) or Shaumyan, the Azerbaijanis expelled from
    Kalbacar and the Armenians expelled from Shaumyan following the war
    have the same right to return to their former places of
    residence. Thus, the following double standards that contradict the
    OSCE principles have been used:

    a) Azerbaijan's accusation that Armenians are settling in the
    territories controlled by the Armenian forces is seen as a violation
    of the sovereign right of the state to these territories;

    b) The OSCE is not interested in the possible resettlement of the
    Armenian villages and the NKR territories controlled by the
    Azerbaijani forces, whereby they recognize the sovereign right of
    Azerbaijan to expel the Armenians living there.

    Refusing to monitor Getashen or Shaumyan, which are already populated
    by Azerbaijanis, the OSCE de facto recognizes the sovereign right of
    Azerbaijan to carry out ethnic cleansing, which is a gross violation
    of all the norms of this organization. We think that by demonstrating
    a selective approach towards the current Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute
    about the possible settlement of the territories controlled as a
    result of the war, the OSCE broke its own main principles. That's to
    say, the OSCE took as a basis not the right of the Azerbaijanis and
    Armenians to return to their former places of residence, but the
    principle under which Armenians who are citizens of Azerbaijan are not
    allowed to settle in the territory of Azerbaijan.

    So the report of the OSCE monitoring mission cannot be
    impartial. Moreover, it cannot serve as a basis for any serious
    political conclusion if the monitoring group does not visit the
    northeastern villages of Shaumyan, Getashen and Mardakert Districts
    before accomplishing its mission.
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