OSCE’s undirected calls invigorate Azerbaijan – ex-Armenian military leader

A former defense minister of Armenia claims international mediators’ responsibility for Azerbaijan’s aggressive behavior.

In an interview with Tert.am, Lieutenant-General Vagharshak Harutyunyan said he believes that the unaddressed calls issued by the OSCE Minsk Group and other international organizations following the unarmed Armenian helicopter’s tragic shoot-down in the Nagorno-Karabakh airspace encourage oil-rich country to more antagonistic steps in trying to reach a pro-Azerbaijani solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“The fact that Azerbaijan did not in any way react to the international organizations' call, not allowing [Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej] Kasprzyk to access the crashed helicopter demonstrates that the country has absolutely no desire to pursue a constructive cooperation. The Minsk Group does, of course, have its guilt for that, as whenever the sides fail to comply with agreements, the issue a call without specifying the target,” he noted,

Harutyunyan said he knows that the mediators’ somewhat passive stance on Azerbaijan’s conduct has been obvious ever since the signing of the 1994 ceasefire agreement.

“As early as in 1995, Azerbaijan signed a document calling for snipers’ withdrawal from the frontline and the elaboration of mechanisms that would help find out who violated the ceasefire agreement. [There were also several other documents] which Azerbaijan blatantly ignores unlike the Armenian side.

“And international organizations, including the OSCE, fail to react to such incidents, encouraging that kind of behavior by Azerbaijan. Of course, it isn’t easy to initially find out who committed a violation, but as far as the helicopter shoot-down is concerned, it is obvious – and international organizations also state – that it was carrying out a training flight on Karabakh’s territory. There seems to be clarity in this case, but the reaction is not what is required in situations as this,” he added.