Statement On Use of Force by Azerbaijan against the Right to Self-Determination of the People of Nagorno-Karabakh delivered by Ambassador Arman Kirakossian at the 1117th Meeting of the OSCE

03 November, 2016

Mr. Chairman,

We would like to draw the attention of the Permanent Council to the continuous escalation of the situation along the Line of Contact between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

In this regard I would like to refer to the Press-Releases of the Ministry of Defense of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, distributed in the OSCE, which indicate that the Azerbaijani armed units have resorted to the tactic of incremental escalation of the tension along the Line of Contact. The number of ceasefire violations continues to increase, accompanied with use of various types of weaponry, including 60 mm. mortars. Moreover, the Azerbaijani armed units have again resumed activities of subversive groups. Violations of the ceasefire regime by Azerbaijan resulted in deaths of Sanasar Grigoryan and Gurgen Ayvazyan, servicemen of the NK Defense Army on October 11 and 26.

Mr. Chairperson,

This year we had extensive discussions on the increasing of capacities of the OSCE in conflict cycle, in particular in early warning and early action phases. The realities on the ground once again show that there is no opt out of increasing the monitoring capacities of the conflict related mandates, including the PRCiO and creating investigative mechanism into ceasefire violations.

It is not a secret that Azerbaijan is blocking the proposals to increase OSCE capacities in the conflict area and establish mechanism into ceasefire violations, which itself is the indicator of the intention of that country to settle the conflict by use of force.

War mongering statements of political figures including Minister of Defence are coupled with numerous Azerbaijani media publications which advocate use of force as a tool to expel population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The large-scale military offensive in April was accompanied by atrocities against both civilians and militaries and widespread glorification of these barbaric acts and their perpetrators at highest political level. The Delegation of Armenia raised its concerns in this regard at the PC, the OSCE human dimension events and the informal meeting of our Ministers in Potsdam.

Azerbaijani side did not condemn and even deny concrete cases of atrocities. Instead it tried to make fake counter-accusations mainly from events that took place more than two decades ago. This indicates that Azerbaijani side justifies recent atrocities and thus is ready to perpetrate new ones.

Regrettably, the massive human rights violations and propaganda of war, hatred and atrocities did not deserve any attention by our Institutions, in particular the ODIHR and the RFOM, which failed to condemn apparent human rights violations in that country.

Mr. Chairperson,

We may enter into another cycle of violence with all negative implications for the people living in the conflict areas and the wider OSCE region.

We call on the OSCE Chairmanship and, the participating States to send an unequivocal signal to Azerbaijan that any new attempt of use of force will be condemned by the international community, as well as to exert pressure on it to implement agreements reached in the Vienna and St. Petersburg Summits.

Mr. Chairperson,

In regard to the usual monologue of the Azerbaijani Delegation I would like to refer to the Note Verbale of the Foreign Ministry of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, distributed on October 25, which stresses that attempts to criminalize a whole nation and its right to development are groundless, provocative, but also indicative that such a policy is integral part of the overall strategy of Azerbaijan to expel its indigenous population of Nagorno-Karabakh from its ancestral homeland.

Thank You.

MFA RA
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