Your trusted source

Baku has been carefully hiding its military casualties of April aggression in an attempt to justify huge price of its adventurism but certainly it cannot hide the fact that together with human losses the peace process became its casualty, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stated the at the 23rd OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg. The minister added that large scale military offensive of Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh in April was the most dangerous escalation of the conflict since 1994 when trilateral cease-fire agreement was signed without time limitations between Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia,

In his speech FM Nalbandian pointed out that the Azerbaijani April aggression was accompanied by gross violations of the international humanitarian law in an apparent attempt to terrorize the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. The foreign minister exemplified despicable crimes and atrocities, including the beheadings, that were circulated in the Azerbaijani media in a self-congratulatory manner. The perpetrators were publically decorated by the authorities.

“The four-day military offensive in April was the culmination of longstanding policy pursued by Baku. Many factors clearly demonstrate that Azerbaijan has long before embarked on the path of hostilities,” Nalbandian stated.

FM declared that instead of preparing the population to peace, as the Co-Chairs of the Minsk group have been calling for, Baku has for years fueled anti-Armenian propaganda. Added to this ‘the skyrocketing accumulation of heavy weaponry in gross violation of international arms control agreements’ that have revealed Azerbaijan’s inclination to the military solution.

Finally, the minister reflected on Azerbaijani refusal to establish confidence building measures proposed by the Co-Chairs, such as the mechanism for investigating the cease-fire violations and the expansion of the OSCE monitoring capacities

“Azerbaijan has been striving to limit the international permanent presence in the conflict zone to keep its hands free for military operations,” Minister Nalbandian said, adding Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have always exerted efforts together with the Co-Chairs for the exclusively peaceful settlement to the conflict which is the fundamental difference between the Armenian and Azerbaijani positions.

The maximalist and uncompromising stance at the negotiation table, rejection of the proposals of the Co-Chair countries even at their final stages, like at Kazan summit in 2011, almost constant profanation of the Co-Chairs’ efforts and the attempts to do mediation shopping in other formats have been illustrative of Azerbaijan’s intentions to derail the negotiations and buy time to continue its military buildup. It does not come as a surprise that the Co-Chairs in their public statements called on Baku to reverse this stance,” Minister Nalbandian stated.