No OSCE member can singlehandedly end a mechanism – Armenian FM on Azeri claims of Minsk Group being obsolete

 16:12,

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. No OSCE member can singlehandedly end a mechanism or institution which was founded by all members of the organization, Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan said during a joint press conference with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Foreign Minister of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani when asked by a reporter to comment on Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev’s claims that the OSCE Minsk Group is expired.

“I think we can’t be guided by the Azerbaijani claims, given the fact that the Azerbaijani claims themselves very often contradict one another around various issues. We can recall the example of Lachin Corridor, when Azerbaijan claimed and still claims that the corridor isn’t blocked, and then a few days later it claims that the corridor is blocked by civilian environmental activists who have environmental concerns, and then it says that these activists should check all cargo and persons passing along the corridor. If we were to be guided by the Azerbaijani claims we would be in a total confusion. Furthermore, Azerbaijan claims that not only doesn’t the Minsk Group exist anymore, but that Nagorno Karabakh doesn’t exist, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict doesn’t exist, and there’s no issue at all in this context that requires addressing or international discussion, or resolution.” the Armenian FM said.

“No OSCE member country can put an end to a mechanism, an institution, a decision, around the establishment of which all member countries had concurred, and which was basically founded by all member countries. The Minsk Group, Minsk format exists, and it is another matter that for many reasons, objective and subjective, the activities of the co-chairmanship is now frozen. I am sure that the Minsk process still has tasks to fulfill and a role in addressing the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh,” he said, adding that the OSCE has tasks to do as well, namely through its other institutions, such as the Personal Representative of the CiO, and not only the Minsk Group.