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“It is hard to speak about the reasons; we can point out the official remarks made by Azerbaijan,” Hovhannes Igityan, former chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, said at a discussion on Wednesday on the topic of “The reasons and consequences of the closure of the OSCE Office in Yerevan” held at Media Center.

In his words, Azerbaijan regularly announced that OSCE Yerevan Office acts beyond its mandate, thus supporting maintenance of the status quo in Karabakh.

“These are the official remarks made by Azerbaijan. In fact, it is not true. By implementing programs related to the social and educational spheres, human rights and the civil society, it can no way be an obstacle for Azerbaijan. The office can hinder the Armenian authorities only, since in some cases the OSCE criticizes the Armenian authorities regarding certain matters,” Mr. Igityan noted.

As far as the mining project is concerned, the politician said that Azerbaijan always announces that the implementation of mining projects, as well as the use of the Armenian experts’ knowledge can contribute to the maintenance of the status quo. He highlighted that Azerbaijan has always had a problematic attitude towards the OSCE.

“Azerbaijan always tries to show that the [Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict is not frozen. Through the shots fired towards the directions of Armenia-Azerbaijan border and Artsakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact, Azerbaijan intends to show how bad this conflict is, thus attempting to internationalize it and taking beyond Armenia-Azerbaijan relations. The closure of the office also makes part of this program. The country even uses blackmails, noting that it will agree on the reopening of the office in case the conflict is settled, in the way that suits them,” the politician added.

Hovhannes Igityan also highlighted that OSCE hinders those countries, which have something to hide from both their societies and the international community.