French Senate makes work of OSCE Minsk Group impossible

Baku/17.11.22/Turan: Sober-minded experts are speaking out in Yerevan after the elation among Armenian politicians caused by the French Senate's resolution making demands on Azerbaijan.

"If the French government approves the resolution, then it will be a very serious political support for Armenia. The problem is that the likelihood of this is close to zero," political analyst Armen Baghdasaryan told JAMnews. The political analyst believes that the resolution will remain on paper, as it was with the document drafted by the same group of senators in 2020, immediately after the 44-day war. The first resolution called on the French government to recognise the separatist regime in Karabakh as an independent state. This document has not been implemented by the French government.

Baghdasarian does not rule out negative consequences, such as an attempt by Baku to push France out of the mediation mission, arguing that it is not a "neutral party".

However, the OSCE Minsk Group is not functioning, because after the victory in the 44-day war, President Ilham Aliyev refuses to meet with the co-chairs of the Minsk Group, among which the representative of France. On November 16, the statement of President Ilham Aliyev on the refusal of contacts with the OSCE MG was quoted by Philippe Ricker, Senior Advisor to the US Secretary of State for Caucasus Negotiations.

"We are engaged in a peace settlement between Azerbaijan and Armenia only in the process of interaction directly with Baku and Yerevan," the diplomat said, speaking at a hearing of the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. "Azerbaijan has simply said it will no longer deal with the Minsk Group," he added.

Why did France end up co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group? Former Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Tofik Zulfugarov explained on social media the reason why President Heydar Aliyev agreed to the French co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group.

"Many years ago, when it was decided to replace the co-chairmanship of Russia and Finland with a new one, it was assumed that the US would be a counterweight to Russia's policy. However, the OSCE is a European organisation. Britain did not suit Armenians because of its involvement in oil projects, we were against France.

But President Heydar Aliyev, after much deliberation, allowed France to become the third co-chair of the MG. "At that time, in a very narrow circle, he explained to us that it would be useful for us, because France's status as an official mediator would allow us to neutralise, albeit partially, the pro-Armenian position of the French political elite.  This factor has been used successfully for many years. In parallel to this, Azerbaijan has deliberately worked to create a pro-Azerbaijani lobby group within the French financial elite. For good or bad, this tactic allowed to keep France in some more acceptable framework," Zulfugarov said.

"However, after 2020, it finally became clear to the Armenian diaspora and pro-Armenian politicians in France that the so-called 'mediation' is more profitable for Azerbaijan, which even buys military equipment worth hundreds of millions of euros or opens the Cultural Center of our country a hundred places from the Eiffel Tower," he added.

 Today, a 30-year project of "mediation of France" is closed by the French and the Armenians themselves, as it has not fulfilled its task," Zulfugarov reminded the story.

The French Senate adopted a resolution in support of Armenia and proposed to impose sanctions against Azerbaijan. The text of the document was supported in the first reading by 295 members of the upper house of the National Assembly (French parliament), with one senator voting against it.

The resolution is advisory in nature and not binding on the government.

 The Senate demands "the withdrawal of Azerbaijani armed forces from the sovereign territory of Armenia and respect for Armenia's territorial integrity and sovereignty" and so on.-0-