Azerbaijan may work the activity of the OSCE

Baku/21.10.22/Turan: Azerbaijan suspended its participation in the discussion of the OSCE budget for 2023 in response to the decision of the Secretariat to send a needs assessment mission to Armenia without coordination with Baku, stated  the Representative Office of Azerbaijan to the OSCE on October 21 during the discussion of the organization's budget for 2023 in the Permanent Council.

"Refusal to cooperate with Azerbaijan and unilaterally send a mission with predetermined goals and results, instead of achieving peace and building trust, will backfire," the  statement of the Azerbaijani Mission to the OSCE.

The visit was announced following a summit meeting in Prague on October 6, where the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan recognized each other's territorial integrity, reaffirming their commitment to signing a peace treaty. Given that Azerbaijan did not object to the deployment of EU civilian observers along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the sending of an “OSCE mission” is a departure from the agreements. This undermines the organization's credibility as an "honest intermediary", especially since the organization's reputation has already been damaged by the activities of the Minsk Group and other OSCE structures, the statement said.

“Until the current situation is corrected and compliance with OSCE documents and decisions is restored, the Azerbaijani representation will not consider the draft budget for the coming year,” the statement concluded.

“The unilateral decision to send an OSCE mission to Armenia was made in violation of the organization's procedures, which are based on the principle of consensus. Azerbaijan, for its part, made it clear that it might not approve the budget of the organization, which could lead to paralysis of the work of its structures,” political scientist Nasimi Mammadli told Turan.—06В-