Nagorno Karabakh Azerbaijanis expect explanations from OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs

On November 17, Day.Az with reference to Novosti-Armenia posted extracts from announcements of two co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno Karabakh - Bernard Fassier (France) and Matthew Bryza (United States).

In particular, the French co-chair said that "currently, the security of Karabakh people is ensured by Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia, on par with strong confrontation from the side of Azerbaijan. In the future there is a plan to form complex measures to ensure security of people of Karabakh and international guarantees under Azerbaijan's consent. In case there is an adequate replacement, including international guarantees of security of the Karabakh people, the lands can be returned".

In turn US co-chair Matthew Bryza announced that "the Karabakh people must be secured from physical and economic pressures, which does not however envision demilitarization of the region".

At the same time, the co-chairs noted that "the opinion of the Karabakh people regarding such approaches has not been learned yet and it is early to speak of their positions".

From the moment of publication of extracts from Bernard Fassier and Matthew Bryza's statements, the news agency has received endless calls from Azerbaijani internally displaced persons from Nagorno Karabakh, in which representatives of the Azerbaijani community of this region voiced a determined protest in connection with the irresponsible use of the term "people/population of Nagorno Karabakh" by the co-chairs and stressed incorrect (and even dangerous) understanding of this concept by two diplomats. Day.Az joins the voice of protest of the representatives of Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh, waiting for the chance to return to their homes.

Either we are facing a deliberate distortion of words of the two co-chairs by the Armenian journalists or the diplomats really consider that the Nagorno Karabakh people is only a part of the population, whose security is today ensured by the armed forces of Armenia. Isn't it early for the co-chairs to monoethnize the whole population of the region and consider the forced expelling of Azerbaijani community an irreversible fact? Perhaps, by implying only Armenian component under the term "people of Nagorno Karabakh", the co-chairs try to persuade the Azerbaijani IDP from Shusha and four other regions of Nagorno Karabakh that them and their ancestors are no longer a part of the Karabakh people, but if so, their security today is ensured by the armed forces of Armenia "under strong confrontation of Azerbaijan"? It is a strange care.

It is resulting from the co-chairs words that for monopolization of the right to name itself "the Karabakh people" by one of the two communities of Nagorno Karabakh, it must expel the other community. Otherwise, how can their statements be explained? Who are the Azerbaijanis, if not the integral part of this term? Or is it possible to remove them from the demography of the region and calmly stop to get interested in their opinion and speak of their physical security? Perhaps, after their return they will still not be considered one of the two components of the communities of the Nagorno Karabakh people and will be considered immigrants on the land of their forefathers? If no, why while speaking of the "Karabakh people", the French and US co-chairs imply only Armenians and ignore the Azerbaijani community?

The Day.Az news agency appeals to Bernard Fassier and Matthew Bryza with a request to clarify their position in this issue and specify what they imply by saying "people of Nagorno Karabakh". The news agency also calls on them to specify the phrase "the opinion of the Karabakh people has not been learned yet and it is early to speak of their positions". In this connection, there is a reasonable question: who will the consultations be conducted with to specify positions of the Karabakh people - the leaders of only Armenian community in Khankendi or the leaders of both communities?

The wide audience of Day.Az in the country and abroad, including tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis from Nagorno Karabakh expects the two co-chairs to explain these key issues.

/Day.Az/