The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has acknowledged that Turkey is unlikely to become one of the OSCE Minsk Group mediators on the Karabakh conflict.
’The agreement of both sides of the conflict, i.e. Azerbaijan and Armenia, is needed to change the format of the Minsk Group. In this case Armenia is against the inclusion of Turkey in the format, as it has repeatedly said,’ Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov told 1news.az on Saturday.
He was commenting on remarks by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrey Nesterenko that Moscow had not received a proposal to include Turkey as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair.
’Anyway, the agreement of all parties is needed in order to make this proposal reality. Considering that the ratification of the protocols on the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations has been suspended, such an agreement is unlikely,’ Nesterenko said.
Azerbaijan has recently criticized the work of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who are from Russia, the USA and France. The idea of Turkey becoming a co-chair of the mediating group has been mooted by officials in Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani politician explains the reasons Turkey can not become a co-chair in OSCE MG
“Turkey has every right to become a co-chair of the OSCE MG,” Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, Hasrat Rustamov said.
“Turkey is one of the leading countries of the region, and therefore can become a co-chair. There are numerous reasons why Turkey should do it. Ankara is well known for its peacekeeping mission. It stands forpeace and stability in our region,” Rustamov said.
Although, Rustamov agrees, that in today’s difficult geopolitical situation, the OSCE MG will hardly change. According to him, “other countries such as USA, Russia, will not allow Turkey to join the OSCE MG.”
Rustamov critisized the actions of OSCE MG, since “up to this day, their biggest achievement was that the war did not start over again. Nothing else was done in a long long time. Armenia still occupies Azerbaijani territories, the conflict is almost frozen, therefore no positive assessment of OSCE MG can be given.”
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