Armenian activists demand to restart OSCE Minsk Group

Armenian authorities should be more proactive in seeking the restart of negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh within the OSCE Minsk Group, protesters in Yerevan have claimed. Azerbaijan insists that the conflict has already been settled by military means.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 11-12, the first violation of the ceasefire was recorded – the force was used to solve the dispute over the ownership of the villages of Khtsaberd (the Azerbaijani name is Chailakkala) and Khin Takher (In Takhlar) in the Gadrut District, the rest of which is under Azerbaijan's control. Similar incidents, including in the Lachin Corridor controlled by Russian peacemakers, are not excluded, Armenian analysts have suggested.

The "National Democratic Pole" Movement demands to resume negotiations on the Karabakh conflict settlement, the "News-Armenia" has reported.

Protesters seek to cancel the "surrender act" concluded with Azerbaijan and replace the Russian peacemaking contingent for an international one, said Varuzhan Avetisyan, a member of the initiative group.

In his opinion, Azerbaijan hinders the restart of negotiations with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group, while Armenian authorities are not persistent enough.

Representatives of the Minsk Group, Andrew Shofer (USA) and Stephan Visconti (France), have arrived in Yerevan from Baku, where they were sharply reprimanded by President Ilham Aliev, who emphasized the absence of results from the Group's 28 years of activity.

The trilateral ceasefire agreement is the Armenia's capitulation, Mr Aliev has stressed. He made it clear that he is not interested in negotiations with the participation of the Minsk Group. Earlier, he claimed that the OSCE Group had acted in the interests of Armenia.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 14, 2020 at 12:06 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.