Official Baku is going to further tightening relations with the West. It can be regarded as a decision to close the Office of the Coordinator of OSCE in Baku. According to well-informed diplomatic sources, the corresponding letter was sent to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on June 3 in the head office of the OSCE in Vienna. "The government of Azerbaijan has reported that there is no need for more activities of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Baku. Therefore, the Government of Azerbaijan considers it null and void from the June 4, 2015 the action "of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Azerbaijan and the OSCE on the OSCE Project Coordinator in Baku", signed September 24, 2014. The government provides the OSCE month to complete the technical issues that arise in such a situation," said in the letter. On June 5 the OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier informed OSCE member states about the decision of the official Baku.
Any comments from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry and other structures have been reported yet.
It should be noted that two years ago Baku lowed the level of the OSCE, which has been downgraded to the embassy to the OSCE Project Coordinator.
The current dramatic step, apparently, was the reaction of Baku to review the current coordinator Alexis Shakhtakhtinsky, whom the OSCE accused of ignoring the problems of civil society in Azerbaijan, and too close links with the country's leadership. Thus, Baku made it clear it does not want coming of truly independent representatives of the OSCE.
It is hard to predict what will be the consequences of this unprecedented step, but it is obvious that Baku provokes aggravation of relations with the West.
It is noteworthy that the government of Azerbaijan has time to solve technical issues after the closure of the OSCE office until July 4 – the US Independence Day. As is well known, the activity by Shakhtakhtinsky has been heavily criticized in America by representative of the OSCE. -06D-
Politics
-
On 26 July "Platform III of the Republic" made a statement which drew attention to the unlawful seizure of electronic devices of underage children of the arrested head of this structure Akif Gurbanov.
-
From 19 to 26 July, 24 automatic rifles, 1 machine gun, 9 rifles, 28 grenades, 441 shells, 3118 cartridges of different calibre and other ammunition were found in Khankendi, the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry reported. During the mentioned period, the police found 1 machine gun, 50 grenades, 7 fuses, 3 shells and 320 cartridges of different calibre in Shusha.
-
President Ilham Aliyev has approved by decree the Azerbaijan-Kazakh intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in military intelligence defense sector. The document was signed in Baku on 7 June 2024.
-
At the trial of the opposition politician Tofig Yagublu, the statement of Elnur Vaqifoglu, another accused, was heard at the Baku Serious Crimes Court.
Leave a review