Azerbaijan’s propaganda that the OSCE Minsk Group format has already exhausted itself pursue only one goal – to get rid of the format, Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said, speaking to Tert.am.
He said even if the negotiations within this format are not efficient it is not the fault of the Minks Group but Azerbaijan’s which has adopted a tough stance. “And as far as it is so, it [Azerbaijan] does everything to maintain the existing situation – the status quo,” he said.
The deputy FM says it is necessary to remember that the Minsk Group co-chairs have two missions. The first is to help the parties reach agreement, and second, to prevent military actions. He said it is not accidental that the three Minsk Group countries are permanent members of the Security Council.
“There was no conflict in history when a permanent member was a security member as well, in this case, three of them separately are, and together they state that the conflict is to be solved in an exclusively peaceful way,” Kocharyan said, stressing that it makes clear why Azerbaijan wants to get rid of the format and why it spreads black propaganda, while the Armenian side has never spoken about either a standstill or inefficiency of the Minsk Group.
The deputy FM said with its unconstructive policy Azerbaijan is doing everything for the international community to understand that there is no alternative to the international recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. “After the vulgar case with Ramil Safarov it is ridiculous when Azerbaijan speaks about returning Karabakh and making it part of Azerbaijan,” Kocharyan said, adding that all steps of Azerbaijan, its unconstructive policy, its indifference toward mediators and international right, history and geography will result in inevitable international recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.
