Artur at The Armenian Observer Blog wrote a post yesterday about the OSCE Minsk Group’s reaction to the Nagorno-Karabakh parliamentary elections that were held on Sunday. He comments that:
More than 70 percent of some 95,000 eligible voters turned out to vote in the poll, where 33 parliamentary mandates were contested on split proportional and majority lists. The elections were peaceful, well organized, and quite democratic, even if no party formed any real political opposition to the incumbent president, and prime minister’s party won the majority.
He was justifiably irate that the Minsk Group, which is supposed to be officiating the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, released the following statement:
MOSCOW/PARIS/WASHINGTON, 24 May 2010 – The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador Igor Popov of Russia, Bernard Fassier of France, and Robert Bradtke of the United States, released the following statement today:
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs (Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France; Ambassador Robert Bradtke of the United States; Ambassador Igor Popov of the Russian Federation) took note that so-called parliamentary elections took place in Nagorno-Karabakh on May 23, 2010. Although the Co-Chairs understand the need for the de facto authorities in NK to try to organize democratically the public life of their population with such a procedure, they underscore again that Nagorno-Karabakh is not recognized as an independent and sovereign state by any of their three countries, nor by any other country, including Armenia. The Co-Chairs consider that this procedure should not preempt the determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh in the broader framework of the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The OSCE Minsk Group has been operating since the mid-1990s, they’ve been there every step of the way since the cease-fire in 1994. The group knows exactly what the people of Nagorno-Karabakh obviously wanted and what they were fighting for–self-governance and self-determination. So how can they say the “so-called parliamentary elections,” also referred to as a “procedure,” “…should not preempt the determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh.” Of course it does. It has been since 1991, when Nagorno-Karabakh declared itself independent. Why would Russia of all countries put its name on this tersely worded statement? Russia started this mess to begin with during Stalin’s reign. Has the OSCE forgotten?
Does Armenia and even Azerbaijan actually trust the Minsk Group and its efforts in helping to establish peace? What has the group actually accomplished in all these years, save for making vague statements about mutually acceptable conditions for peace and undefined security guarantees? It’s very proud of the so-called “Madrid Principles” that you often read about in the news without having a clear understanding of what they actually are, since they are supposedly kept secret (although rumor has it that all territories are expected to be returned to Azerbaijani control, with Karabakh given some kind of neutral interim status until the “final status” is determined in some sort of “referendum”). But who is really taking the group seriously anymore?
Why does this process continue if there doesn’t seem to be any trust? With this statement, the Minsk Group is not showing any support or respect whatsoever for what the people of Nagorno-Karabakh want and died for. Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence is not recognized by any of the three Minsk Group member states, that’s certainly true. Yet its resolve must be recognized. The Karabakh people clearly know what they want. Problem is, the Minsk Group after all these years still undermines that. That’s precisely why a solution hasn’t been reached until now.
Photo credit: Photolur