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TOL: OSCE Karabakh Troubleshooter Under Fire

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  • TOL: OSCE Karabakh Troubleshooter Under Fire

    Transitions on Line, Czech Rep.
    Sept 1 2006


    OSCE Karabakh Troubleshooter Under Fire

    by Shahin Abbasov and Khadija Ismailova
    1 September 2006

    Hopes for a breakthrough in the Karabakh peace process any time soon
    appear to be thoroughly dashed. From EurasiaNet.

    Azerbaijan's patience is wearing thin over the lack of movement
    toward a Nagorno-Karabakh peace settlement, and officials in Baku are
    taking out their frustration on the Organization for Security and
    Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) trouble-shooter responsible for
    monitoring the cease-fire.

    Hopes for a breakthrough in the Karabakh peace process, so high at
    the outset of 2006, now appear to be thoroughly dashed. In a
    mid-August speech to Azeri diplomats, President Ilham Aliev indicated
    that Baku's position is hardening. "Azerbaijan will not tolerate the
    creation of a second Armenian state on its territory," the president
    said.

    Another sign that trouble may be looming on the horizon is the
    vehement criticism coming from Baku aimed at Andrzej Kasprzyk, the
    special representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office on
    Karabakh-related issues. Recent statements by Azeri officials, backed
    by media reports, have portrayed Kasprzyk as incompetent, biased in
    favor of Armenia, and possibly involved in nefarious business
    dealings.

    Having held the special representative designation for nearly a
    decade, Kasprzyk's responsibilities include managing existing
    cease-fire monitoring mechanisms and promoting confidence-building
    measures between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He also supports the OSCE's
    Minsk Group in promoting a lasting peace settlement for Karabakh.

    Now it appears that Kasprzyk no longer enjoys the confidence of
    Aliev's administration. Dissatisfaction with Kasprzyk's handling of a
    recent inquiry into a series of fires in areas of Azerbaijan under
    occupation by Armenian forces triggered Baku's attacks against him.
    The fires began breaking out in June. Convinced that the blazes had
    been deliberately set by Armenians, Azeri officials pressed Kasprzyk
    to look into the matter, and quickly started to criticize him for not
    pursuing the investigation vigorously.

    Azeri officials reportedly became enraged when Kasprzyk's report went
    into specific detail about the damage done by the fires, but shied
    away from examining how they started. The closest the report got to
    taking a stand was a suggestion that, given the arid conditions
    prevailing in the area during the summer, fire was a perennial
    threat.

    "I am not an investigator," the Arminfo news agency quoted Kasprzyk
    as saying. "I could not find any evidence about what caused the
    fires." He indicated that international efforts to monitor the fires
    were hampered by gunfire exchanges between Armenian and Azeri forces
    deployed along the so-called contact line.

    On 17 August, the Turan news agency quoted Novruz Mamedov, the head
    of the Azeri presidential administration's international department,
    as complaining that Kasprzyk and the Minsk Group co-chairs had
    "displayed a belated reaction" to Baku's request for an
    investigation, thus "showing their one-sided position."

    The same day, Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov stated that
    "the non-prevention of Armenian-instigated blazes in the occupied
    territories may lead to an ecological catastrophe." Other Azeri
    officials assailed Yerevan, accusing Armenian authorities of taking
    no action to fight the fires. Azeri authorities at the same time
    appealed to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and
    UNESCO for help in containing the fires. Armenian officials have
    generally maintained a low profile in the controversy.

    >From Baku's viewpoint, the fires are politically motivated, designed
    to prevent the resettlement of Azeri internally displaced persons.
    "If the fires continue, it will create problems for people who will
    move to these areas; people will not be able to use this land for at
    least the next five-10 years," Araz Azimov, Azerbaijan's deputy
    foreign minister, told reporters.

    Azimov went on to ridicule Kasprzyk's assessment on the fires.
    "Kasprzyk himself admitted that he is not an ecologist," Azimov said.
    "Therefore, his [inference] that natural causes were behind the fires
    in the occupied territories is completely groundless," Azimov said.

    Despite their clear dissatisfaction with Kasprzyk's performance,
    Azeri officials have not taken formal action to prompt the special
    representative's replacement. Without such action, Kasprzyk said he
    intends to keep performing his duties. "I will not resign," the Turan
    news agency quoted him as saying on 26 August.
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