Ararat Mirzoyan: We believe that OSCE can play instrumental role not  merely in achieving but also sustaining peace through involvement of  its structures

ArmInfo. On January 17, Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan delivered remarks at the special session of the OSCE Permanent Council initiated by Armenia.

As the press service of the RA MFA reports, in particular, he said:   "Mr. Chairperson, Distinguished Ambassadors, Ladies and Gentlemen, I  would like to start by congratulating you, Mr. Chairperson, and  through you my dear colleague, Minister Bujar Osmani, on assuming by  North Macedonia of the Chairmanship of the OSCE and wish you all the  success in your challenging endeavour of leading this largest  security organization in times of unprecedented set-backs and crises  in our common security area.  We welcome the human-centric concept of  security which will be the guiding approach of the North Macedonian  Chairmanship under the motto "It's about people". 

One cannot say better, since this organization has been established  first and foremost to serve the interest of people and ensure their  rights and security.  I assure you of Armenia's support in all your  efforts contributing to creating conditions for the people in the  OSCE area to live in a more secure and safe environment.  

I also would like to thank you, Mr. Chairperson, for convening this  special PC meeting and giving me the opportunity to speak about the  situation in our region and, particularly, the blockade of the Lachin  Corridor.  Mr.  Chairperson, I wish I could have come here to the PC  to talk about the achievements of Armenia in strengthening its  democracy, human rights and the rule of law and the process of  successfully implementing large-scale reforms from judiciary to  police, from fighting corruption to improving social cohesion and  justice. And believe me, I would have many things to say.  

Unfortunately, the security crisis and challenges following the war  of aggression by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 and the  subsequent aggression and occupation by Azerbaijan of the sovereign  territory of Armenia threaten the Armenian democracy undermining the  efforts of the Armenian government towards bringing peace, stability  and security to the South Caucasus region.  Since this is the first  time that the Foreign Minister of Armenia addresses the Permanent  Council following the 44-day war of aggression and occupation of  Armenia's territory I would like to briefly reflect on the impact  that this large-scale unprecedented use of force for the settlement  of conflict have had in terms of perception of the OSCE, its  principles and commitments, and its concept of comprehensive and  indivisible security.  

The 44-day war of aggression was accompanied by war crimes and  widespread violations of international humanitarian law, targeting of  civilian population and infrastructure, destruction of cultural  heritage, which were not properly investigated and no one has been  held accountable.  Throughout decades, the OSCE has been developing a  set of tools, or the toolbox, aimed at early warning and conflict  prevention. Unfortunately, it pains me to say this, but we have to  recognize that the OSCE failed to apply this toolkit effectively and  in a timely manner.  

Furthermore, the absence of proper and robust reaction resulted in  the impunity for the use of force as means of conflict settlement, in  violation of the OSCE principles, commitments enshrined in its basic  documents, leading to the legitimation of violence in the interstate  and intrastate relations.  Following the signing on the 9 November  2020 of a trilateral statement on the cessation of armed hostilities  in Nagorno-Karabakh Armenia spared no efforts to achieve a  normalization of relations with Azerbaijan and address the rights and  security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Unfortunately, the  Azerbaijani side, instead of engaging in good faith into the  negotiations, continues its destructive policy. Immediately after  signing the Trilateral statement the Azerbaijani side violated the  commitment on complete ceasefire and cessation of all military  operations and launched an attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, which resulted  in capturing of two more villages and the captivity of the Armenian  servicemen. In May and November 2021 as well as in September last  year the Azerbaijani side launched an aggression against the Republic  of Armenia occupying around 150 sq km of the sovereign territories of  Armenia. Today, with the blockade of the Lachin corridor the  Azerbaijani side created a humanitarian crisis with far going  intentions.  On 12 December 2022, a group of Azerbaijanis claiming to  be environmental activists blocked the Lachin Corridor, the lifeline,  the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of  the world, thus effectively isolating the 120 thousand people in  Nagorno-Karabakh, 30 thousands of which are children. Over 1000  people, including 270 children, are unable to return home to  Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Some of those children are separated from their parents and were  temporarily sheltered in Armenia.  From the very beginning, it was  obvious that this blockade was a preplanned action directed and  financed by the Azerbaijani authorities, using the cover of so-called  "eco- activists" for plausible deniability.  These actions of  Azerbaijan constitute an overt breach of paragraph 6 of the 9  November trilateral statement, which clearly indicates and I quote:  "The Lachin Corridor shall remain under the control of the  peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation; the Republic of  Azerbaijan shall guarantee safe movement of citizens, vehicles and  cargo in both directions along the Lachin Corridor." For more than a  month now, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh remain under factual siege.  Food, medical and energy supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh are almost  completely halted.  About 400 tons of essential goods, including  grain, flour, rice, vegetables, fruits, medicines, and baby formula,  were imported to Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia daily.  

After around five weeks of the blockade, there is a severe shortage  of all essential goods.  Moreover, the deliberate 3-day interruption  of the gas supply in freezing winter conditions, followed by ongoing  disruptions of the electricity grid and telecommunication lines in  the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh are another evidence of  preplanned actions of the Azerbaijani authorities. This severely  impacts the daily life of the people and leads to a number of adverse  humanitarian consequences, such as lack of electricity, disruption of  the educational process at the schools; disruption of the work of  state agencies and of the heating of vitally important institutions  such as hospitals, disruption of businesses. People are deprived of  heating and hot water. The authorities introduced the rationing of  fuel, and now of food and essential goods.  

The humanitarian crisis is worsening with each passing day and  requires the immediate and targeted intervention of the international  community. We cannot stand by and watch how people are slowly  starving to death, because of political games and perhaps  geopolitical considerations. The time to act is now.  At the request  of Armenia, this issue has been discussed at the UN Security Council.  We have briefed the members of the Security Council and also the  Secretary-General about the dire situation and urged our partners to  step in and stop the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.  Of course,  I could not but welcome the unambiguous statements and positions of  our partner countries calling Azerbaijan to immediately and without  preconditions lift the blockade and ensure the free and unimpeded  movement through the Lachin Corridor. 

I believe that we should increase the pressure on Azerbaijan for it  to comply with its own commitments. Azerbaijan should face  consequences for its actions.  The blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh is  not an isolated episode but must be seen as part of a widespread and  systematic policy of Azerbaijan aimed at the ethnic cleansing of the  people of Nagorno-Karabakh:  through creating unbearable living  conditions, Azerbaijan aims to coerce the people of Nagorno-Karabakh  to leave their native land, leave their homes. The recent statement  of the President of Azerbaijan suggesting the deportation of those  Armenians who do not want to become citizens of Azerbaijan comes to  prove their intention of ethnic cleansing.  It is imperative to send  an international fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the  Lachin Corridor to assess the humanitarian situation on the ground,  as well as to ensure unhindered humanitarian access to  Nagorno-Karabakh for relevant UN bodies.  Excellences, Having the  political will to normalize relations with Azerbaijan, the Armenian  government engaged in good faith in talks with Azerbaijan in three  separate tracks, namely, the opening of all transport communications  in the region, delimitation and border security, and the agreement on  normalization of relations or peace agreement between Armenia and  Azerbaijan.  In the first track - the resumption of economic and  transport links in the region - we have established a trilateral  working group headed from our side by the Deputy Prime Minister.  There have been several meetings in this format and issues of  possible roads and railway connections, as well as other details  related to unblocking regional communications were discussed.   Unfortunately, Azerbaijan's approach in this process was  non-constructive from the very beginning. Despite its clear  commitment taken under the 9 November 2020 and 11 January 2021  trilateral statements, Azerbaijan put forward the unsubstantiated  demand for the extraterritorial corridor through the sovereign  territory of Armenia. I want to clearly state that Armenia never took  any commitment or agreed in any manner to any extraterritorial  corridor through its territory, and all the claims by the Azerbaijani  side are clear distortions and manipulation of the substance of the  trilateral statements.  Recently the president of Azerbaijan  acknowledged that it was himself who introduced the term of so-called  "Zangezur Corridor" in the international agenda and threatened to  establish it sooner or later, regardless of whether Armenia wants it  or not. And he said that he introduced this term after the signing of  the November 9 Trilateral Statement.  I would like to once again make  it clear: we rule out any exterritorial corridor on the territory of  the Republic of Armenia and will not provide any corridor to anyone.   This is a principled and irrevocable position, fully in line with the  relevant provision of the 9 November statement. Moreover, the  decision on providing a link between the western regions of  Azerbaijan and Nakhijevan can be adopted swiftly, as soon as  Azerbaijan admits that all communications should operate under the  jurisdiction and legislation of the Republic of Armenia.  In this  context, I would like to inform that recently another attempt to find  a final agreement on the opening of railway communications didn't  succeed, as the Azerbaijani side put forward new conditions that were  in contradiction with the primary understanding of the sides on the  modalities. In fact, this was the second time that Azerbaijan's  actions derailed the progress on this issue. The first time  preliminary agreement to solve the issues of railway connection was  reached back in December 2021. This fact has even found its place in  the statement of the President of the European Council, Charles  Michel, from 14 December 2021.  The second track of the normalization  talks is the work of the Commissions of delimitation and border  security. The Commissions were created after the armed incursion of  the Azerbaijani armed forces into the sovereign territory of the  Republic of Armenia on 12 May 2021 and the subsequent occupation of  Armenia's lands.  The Commissions held meetings to discuss the  parameters of the delimitation of the international border between  Armenia and Azerbaijan. We firmly believe that without clearly agreed  parameters of the delimitation of the border, it will be impossible  to achieve sustainable peace. In this regard, the agreements reached  in Prague and Sochi, in particular, the reference to the Almaty  protocol and subsequent documents are of utmost importance. Though,  in subsequent interpretations the President of Azerbaijan, while  claiming that Armenia thus recognized Azerbaijan's territorial  integrity, failed to affirm the respect for the territorial integrity  of Armenia.  The work of the Commissions was hampered by Azerbaijan.   First, despite the agreements that the commission should have a  double mandate and work on delimitation and stable security situation  along, and in the vicinity of, the borderline reached in Sochi on 26  November 2021 and during the second trilateral meeting of the leaders  of Armenia and Azerbaijan hosted by the President of the European  Council it refused to include the term "border security" in the title  of the Commissions, which was rather indicative of its true  intentions. Then, on 13 September 2022, the armed forces of  Azerbaijan launched an unprovoked and unjustified large-scale  military attack in the southern and southeastern directions of the  Republic of Armenia resulting in the invasion into and occupation of  other swathes of the sovereign territory of Armenia. More than 200  servicemen were killed. 

The towns and villages in border provinces were indiscriminately  shelled. During this aggression Azerbaijani armed forces committed  war crimes, extrajudicial killings, subjected Armenian military  personnel, including women to the most shocking and horrific  humiliation and torture. These facts were documented by the  Azerbaijani servicemen themselves and were uploaded to various social  media outlets, clearly aiming to intimidate the Armenian side. In  fact, the 44-days war of aggression was also accompanied by  large-scale violations of international humanitarian law. 

In this context, taking this opportunity, I would like to express our  gratitude to the Polish Chairmanship, the Secretary-General, the OSCE  Troika and the FSC Chairmanship for dispatching the OSCE needs  assessment mission to Armenia to assess the situation on the ground,  as well as all appreciation of efforts of those who supported the  mission. The report of the mission clearly revealed the scale and  magnitude of destruction, and we took note of the Conclusions and  Recommendations contained therein, which we believe should serve as a  reference point for the follow-up and further engagement of the OSCE  executive structures with Armenia.  

I also would like to thank the European Union for dispatching the  monitoring mission to Armenia. We stand ready for further cooperation  in this regard.  The September aggression, as well as previous  attacks and provocations by Azerbaijan, should be considered against  the broader background of ever-expanding territorial claims against  Armenia, including the capital city Yerevan, constantly voiced by the  President of Azerbaijan and echoed by other high-ranking political  personalities, which are accompanied manifestly by threats of use of  force. This tactic of coercive foreign policy is deployed by  Azerbaijan to extract endless one-sided concessions. 

For the moment we see no indication of change in this policy pattern,  that is of Azerbaijan's willingness to abandon its territorial  claims, its bellicose rhetoric and to commit to peace. Under these  circumstances, we have all grounds to believe that even after the  signing of an agreement on the normalization of relations with  Azerbaijan, it will continue to raise these absurd territorial claims  against Armenia.  The third track of talks is related to the text of  the possible agreement on the normalization of relations between  Armenia and Azerbaijan or peace treaty, which should comprehensively  address all the issues and create a conducive security environment  for the continuation of discussions in various directions.  

The Armenian side suggested several fundamental proposals, in  particular, on clarification of parameters of delimitation of the  international border, on distancing of forces from the state border  and creation of a demilitarized zone, as well as the creation of the  Institute of Guarantors of the peace agreement. It is regrettable  that all the proposals of the Armenian side were rejected by  Azerbaijan.  Along with this, we believe that the Nagorno-Karabakh  conflict - the issue of guarantees of rights and securities of people  living in Nagorno-Karabakh - also has to be addressed.  However,  taking into account the Azerbaijani suggestion to discuss this issue  separately from the peace agreement, the Armenian side suggested  creating an international mechanism for dialogue between Stepanakert  and Baku.  We have to recognize the enormity of this task,  considering that for more than 30 years there were effectively no  relations between the two countries. But we firmly believe that the  normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations is crucial for the  security and stability of the region and its perspectives. 

However, and this should also be recognized, this normalization could  not be achieved without addressing the root causes of the conflict,  the issue of fundamental human rights and the political will to work  towards reconciliation.  The blockade of the Lachin Corridor, which  goes exactly in the opposite direction and makes the perspective of  any progress in all these tracks even more distant, proves once again  the absolute necessity of international engagement to address the  issues of rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.   Excellencies, The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains a significant  challenge to regional and international peace and stability. The  aggressive posturing, anti-Armenian rhetoric directed against  Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, the blockade of the Lachin Corridor  comes to confirm this fact.  

More than two years after the signing of the Trilateral Statement on  9 November 2020, Azerbaijan still refuses to repatriate all Armenian  Prisoners of War, captives, and other detained persons, in violation  of obligations under the Geneva Conventions, the Trilateral Statement  itself and the constant calls of the international community.  

Currently, according to the data confirmed by Azerbaijan, 33 people  are still kept hostage in Baku. I must also highlight two dozen  well-documented cases of enforced disappearances, where we are in  possession of indisputable, recorded facts of the capture of Armenian  Prisoners of War, yet Azerbaijan rejects their captivity.  Armenia is  also extremely concerned about the state of the Armenian cultural  heritage in the territories that fell under Azerbaijani control in  the aftermath of the 2020 war.  Dispatching of a UNESCO fact-finding  mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories, talks on  which have been ongoing since November 2020, are still rejected by  the Azerbaijani side.  

We understand that nowadays the OSCE is not having the best of days  and the situation in the South Caucasus is not the only crisis that  the Organization is facing. At the same time, we believe that all  conflicts in the area of OSCE responsibility should have the adequate  attention of the organization and its structures.  The OSCE with the  Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group has been involved in the political  resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from the very beginning.   Despite all the challenges the Group still has a responsibility as  the political resolution of the conflict is yet to be achieved.  We  believe that OSCE can play an instrumental role not merely in  achieving but also sustaining peace through the involvement of its  structures.  I thank you".