Collaboration with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship 'not sufficiently effective' - Karen Bekaryan

The Armenian authorities' collaboration with the OSCE Minsk Group turns out problematic enough when it comes to ensuring the necessary effectiveness in the processes around Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), political analyst Karen Bekaryan said Monday, addressing the latest statement released by top representatives of the mission.

"That statement by the co-chairs did not contain any condemnatory remark regarding the Azerbaijani sabotage. There was no a specific addressee; just a blurred and smoothed text. The statement by the co-chairs did not directly address Turkey's non-constructive stance, which it [that country] uses over and over again in an effort to push Azerbaijan to a war," he said during the analytical broadcast Between the Lines aired by ArmNews TV Channel.

Bekaryan also pointed out to specific hints for changing the mission's format, considering the kind of language "the result of ineffective work with the co-chairmanship".

Commenting on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's remark, voiced at the recent cabinet meeting, the analyst said he observed a real attempt to outline a specific concept which hadn't earlier existed. But he considered the move belated in the light of the Azerbaijani leadership's "increasingly dangerous maximalism and cynicism".

"There is now an understanding that it is time to demarcate the red lines," he noted.

"The call for abandoning use of force and threat of force, a clause reflected in the prime minister's remark, may also be subject to discussion -  if implemented correctly - to be incorporated into a corresponding agreement among Armenia, Azerbaijan and Artsakh."

Bekaryan also stressed the importance of bringing the Vienna, St. Petersburg and Geneva arrangements to the agenda.

"Again some complex prevents the prime minister from returning nominally to the Vienna, St. Petersburg and Geneva arrangements, which were being consistently ousted from the agenda, But the prime minister addresses the same topic from the key clauses of the position," he added.

The analyst said he believes that the situation might be essentially different now if not the "false agenda" and the calls for starting everything "from a scratch". "What the Foreign Ministry needs to do now is to set aside the entire hustle and bustle which existed until now and rely on the position presented in all its steps and actions."  

Bekaryan also called for sobriety to adjust the internal atmosphere to the existing security challenge. "The authorities must first of all properly evaluate their capacities. The existence of the country, state, statehood and public security must not, under any circumstances, be called into question - even if they lack the ability to take a serious stand," he added.

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