Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry refuses to recognize the "OSCE Mission" in Armenia

Baku/20.10.22/Turan: The issue of sending the OSCE Mission to Armenia has never been discussed by any OSCE body and such a collective decision has not been made, the comments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan dated October 20. “Thus, any group called “OSCE Needs Assessment Mission in Armenia” does not have an OSCE mandate, cannot be associated with the OSCE in any way, and none of its results or reports will be accepted as an OSCE document,” the comment noted.

“This unilateral initiative of Armenia is nothing more than a personal visit by a group of several participating states, and any result of such a visit will be assessed accordingly.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry notes that two OSCE missions were sent to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in 2005 and 2010. These missions were agreed upon by consensus within the OSCE. In 2020, Azerbaijan's request to send such a mission was not fulfilled due to the resistance of Armenia.

“Such ill-conceived unilateral action by the OSCE Chairmanship and Secretariat is contrary to the basic principles of any responsible and credible mediation and confidence building, which require the consent of the parties, the impartiality of mediators and respect for the obligations of states arising from international law,” the commentary says. ---02D---