AZERI AIDE CRITICAL OF OSCE MEDIATORS’ KARABAKH REMARKS
ANS TV, Baku
15 Jul 07
[Presenter] The latest statement by the OSCE Minsk Group is not
understandable. Novruz Mammadov, head of the foreign relations
department of the presidential administration, has said that it is
wrong to equalize the sides to the conflict.
In a statement made after their consultations in Vienna, the co-chairs
said that after 13 years of the neither peace nor war situation, it
might seems to the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan that it is easier
to keep to the status quo rather than to make a mutual compromise. If
the sides avoid taking courageous steps, the co-chairs cannot do so
for them.
[Mammadov] In general, in this approach by the co-chairs, I see an
approach of equalization. This is wrong. In general, as mediators,
the co-chairs should understand that they cannot achieve anything
by standing in the middle. On the contrary, by assessing the sides’
positions on the conflict, they should define whose responsibility
and approach is more correct and then express a certain position. By
equalizing both sides to the conflict, they are taking the wrong
approach to norms of international law and their mediatory functions.